


Love Drunk

by Idzzdi



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M, Falling In Love, Friendship/Love, Ireland, Love, Love Confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-25
Updated: 2013-05-10
Packaged: 2017-11-26 21:29:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 43
Words: 109,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/654605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Idzzdi/pseuds/Idzzdi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scrollan’s parents made her go visit her aunt in Ireland for the summer. Out of boredom she picks up a job at a pub where after a while she meets two boys who happen to be quite known - but not to her. Getting to know the two, there eventually is a little more than just friendship between her and one of the boy.. Or is there?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Scrollan’s POV:

„Good afternoon, Scrollan.“ Dan greeted me as he unlocked the door to his pub and let us in. His Irish accent was horrible though I had gotten used to it over the past two weeks. I had gotten used everything Irish around me. Hating it at first I had now come to like most of the little strange things people in Mullingar did differently from people in London.

I grew up in suburbia London and had just finished High School. I was to go to college after this summer, but my parents thought it was important for me to ‘do something new’ in the time in between High School and college so they sent me off to Ireland to live with my aunt for a few months. It would be understated to say that I didn’t want to go. I had hated this place all my life. It’s not that I didn’t like my aunt. She was a nice lady and very laid-back, sometimes more than my parents. She was also my godmother and we got along very well. It was the town that I hated.

The population being just over 20.000 this was nothing compared to London, not even suburbia London. There was nothing to do around here. And even less so since I didn’t know any people. My aunt, her name is Lindsey by the way, did her best to find me something to do. She got a job at a local pub and Dan was my boss.

He was a good guy and looked just like somebody who owned a pub and liked to drink himself. His beer belly, half-bald head and his warm eyes made him look friendly and I had liked him starting on my very first day at work.

Lina stumbled through the door into the pub, making me and Dan laugh at her clumsiness. She tucked strands of her long blond hair behind her ear and grinned back at us. She was the other waiter Dan had hired and I liked her a lot. Working with her was so much fun, she would always be cracking jokes or rambling about town’s latest gossip. She introduced a lot of new people to me. Most men coming to the pub were on average twenty years older than me, but most of them still liked to flirt and let Lina and me have a good time.

I usually worked the bar, whereas Lina waited the tables and helped out in the kitchen. Whenever things got really busy she would come and help me with the bar and Dan’s daughters Elli and Laura would help out with waiting the tables.

Everybody was so kind to me and I was feeling bad for continuously wishing to go home. “You’ll get used to everything.” Lina kept saying and though I didn’t like to admit it I hated the place less with every day that I was here.

“Alright girls, let’s get going.” Dan said and disappeared in the kitchen. Lina walked over to me and hugged me quickly. “You okay, Coco?”

She had thought my name was weird from the very first time we met. “Scrollan?” she had asked with her eyes wide open. “We’ll need to find a nickname for that, cause there’s no way in hell I’m gonna remember that!” I had just laughed and let her have it her way. She started out with Scro or Cro and went to Crocro. For some reason people kept thinking she said Coco thought so after about a week people in the pub would just call me Coco and I went with it. Dan and Lindsey were the only once to still call me Scrollan on occasion.

“Yeah, sure I’m good.”

Lina grinned. “Me too.”

Her and I started wiping tables and setting up everything for tonight. The pub always opened at around 7, but Lina and I showed up early to help Dan prep everything. He offered to pay us extra, but we kindly declined as he already paid us more then minimum wage and the tips we got during the evening-shifts were generous enough. I was saving up all the money for college so I wouldn’t have to work as much when it actually came down to studying.


	2. Chapter 2

Scrollan’s POV:

7 ‘o clock came fast and before I knew it the first usual suspects showed up and I handed the first pints across the bar. I chatted away with some of the old men, pouring out more beer as time trickled by. Many of them only got their after-work beer(s) and left after an hour or two and things quieted down a little bit.

I was leaning against the back of the bar and watched the people sitting on the high stools as Lina walked over to me.

“It’s quiet today, huh.” she said and I nodded. “The football season will be picking up shortly and then there won’t be any more quiet nights. So enjoy it.” I grinned back at her. Our conversation was interrupted by a middle-aged man sitting at the bar.

“It starts this Wednesday.” he said and Lina and I grinned at him. “Of course you would know that, Greg.” she said, fluttering her eyelashes. Working on her tip. Greg held up his hand, signaling that he wanted another beer. “I got it.” I muttered as I walked away to get him his beer, leaving Lina to keep chatting with him.

He flashed me a smile when I set the new pint in front of him, picking up the empty one. I politely smiled back and then returned to Lina, leaning next to her again.

We stood in silence for a while. When she left to go to one of the tables to collect the money they still owed I sighed quietly, wishing there were some more people here, just so I could actually be doing something. A moment after that the door flung open and I hoped for a large group of people to wander in, but of course it was only one guy. He looked a little lost, making me smile at his hesitating moves. His hair was very short and brown. Judging from the expression on his actually very pretty face he seemed to be worrying about something. Not moving at all he just stood in the doorway.

“Hey, who’s that?” I whispered as Lina returned and threw some money in the cash register. She looked up the boy and shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know his name. He’s been here a couple nights ago I guess. But his hair was longer. And he was with a friend.” I remembered. His hair really had been longer. It looked weird now.

“Why would he cut his hair?” I asked Lina quietly but just as she was about to say something he finally managed to move and walked over to the bar and sat down on one of the stools. Chuckling quietly Lina poked me in the side “Go ask him yourself.” I grinned at her and made my way behind the bar, to go talk to him. He seemed zoned out and when I stood in front of him he shook his head lightly before his brown eyes focused on me.

“New hair-do?” I asked smiling at him but my question seemed to throw him off a little. He touched his head and then muttered “Uh yeah..” He didn’t seem like he wanted to talk so I just dropped it.

“Can I get you something then?” He was still zoned out. What on earth was wrong with this guy? I waited patiently from him return to reality before I asked him again. “Can I get you something to drink?” He nodded slightly. “Uh yes.. Something to burn my brain away, please.”

His humorous answer surprised me and made me laugh. He smiled tiredly as all the drinks we had ran through my mind. “Whiskey is pretty bad.” I said and he nodded. “Whiskey it is then.” He didn’t seem much older than me but I didn’t want to make a fool of myself asking for his ID so I just went to grab a glass, fill it with ice cubes and pour some Whiskey on top.

I sat the glass in front of him giving him a smile, but he just looked at the glass, grabbing it and downing it right away. My mouth fell open a little bit when he just gestured towards the glass. I pulled up the bottle of Whiskey that I still held in my hand and filled the glass again. Luckily he didn’t down it right away again which calmed me down a little. I don’t want him puking on the bar. I would have to clean that.

I looked over to find Lina’s gaze but she was busy otherwise so I turned my attention back to the boy in front of me.

“So why are we burning away our brains tonight?” I asked curiously.

“Because girls exist.” he said bluntly and I didn’t know whether to laugh about his statement or whether to feel offended.

“Sorry about that.” I said trying to cheer him up. He grinned back lamely making this the end of our conversation. Alright, whatever., I thought and walked away from him a little as he nipped on his drink.

I hadn’t granted the weird boy a look in about twenty minutes when he leaned over the bar a little waving his hand for me. He already seemed a little tipsy but motioned to his glass again and I grabbed the bottle of Whiskey walking over to him. I felt his look on me as I poured the liquid.

“I’m Liam.” he said. His words took me by surprise and I looked up at him as I set the bottle down behind the bar.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Scrollan. But you can call me Coco.”

He grinned a little in confusion. “Nice to meet you, too.”

Just as I was about to walk away again he started talking again. “Can I ask you something, Coco?” I was unsure on what he wanted but I just nodded in silence. “You’re not from here, are you?” I shook my head. “Neither are you.” I stated and he grinned. His English was a lot more like mine, not Irish at all.

“Wolverhampton.“ he said and I nodded. “London.“ “That’s what I thought.”

“So what are you doing here then?” I asked in order to keep the conversation going.

“Visiting a friend.” he said slurring a little after a little pause. “You?”

“Staying with my aunt for some time. And well.. Working at a pub.”

He grinned. “You’re doing a great job.” His eyes looked glazed and his drunkenness amused me. I smiled. “You know, I have a really handsome friend, who’s so sexy. And so single. You should hit him up, sometime.” I laughed. “Will do.” I said walking away a little. This conversation was getting out of hand and I didn’t want to get involved with some drunk Irishman. Oh or well, Englishman.

Liam had a couple more Whiskeys and stayed until just past 11 pm. Before he left he put some money on the table and started tumbling towards the door. Before he opened it, he turned around and looked at me one more time. “I’ll come back and bring my friend.” was I guess what he said but he slurred pretty badly so I wasn’t quite sure.

“Now, that was a weird one.” I quietly said to Lina and she giggled. I had told her what he had said to me but she just shrugged her shoulders. Him not being from Mullingar explained why she didn’t know him.

Just before midnight Dan kicked the last few drunks out of the pub and together with Lina we started cleaning up a little. We only did what was absolutely necessary, and decided to do the rest in the afternoon tomorrow.

Dan waved us goodbye and Lina and I started walking down the little streets of downtown Mullingar. We lived close to each other and walked each other halfway home every night. It was still early today, but other nights when it was comparatively late I was glad I didn’t have to walk alone in the dark. This little town really could be scary at times.


	3. Chapter 3

Liam’s POV:

The next morning I woke up with the worst headache in the world. Still being very tired I wondered what it was that woke me up. A familiar face with blond fringes was right above mine. Niall kept poking my cheeks. “Rise and shine.” he said chuckling quietly.

“Go’way, Niall. I wanna sleep.” I muttered and tried pushing his face away, my eyes shut tightly. He slapped my hand away, but I just rolled over snuggling into my pillow again.

“Alright. C’mon Liam. Get up, now!” Niall started pulling my blanket away.

“No.” I stretched the word as I pulled my knees to my chest, feeling a sudden pain struck through my head. I touched my head and blinked my eyes, slowly adjusting to the brightness in the room. “What time is it?”

“Just past noon.” I frowned. I slept more then twelve hours and was still feeling sleepy. This wasn’t good.

“Li. Come on, sit up now. I got you some good Irish breakfast and some Ibuprofen for your headache, which you’ll probably have, considering the condition you were in when you got home last night.” He chuckled as he handed me a glass of water and two pills.

“Who are you? My mom?” I asked but took the medicine thankfully. I sat up in my bed in Niall’s guestroom. The pain in my head multiplied by ten when I moved my head, so I chucked the pills quickly for the painkillers to kick in as soon as possible. Niall scooted a little closer setting a tray in between us. It held coffee for two and loads of eggs, bacon and toast. He started eating right away and I knew that if I wanted any of that food, I better got down to business right away or it would all be gone.

Niall and I ate in silence for a while but I felt him shooting looks at me every now and then. When we had finished our food, Niall sat the tray aside and gestured for me to scoot over. He sat next to me, both of us leaning against the head of the bed. I knew what was coming next. Niall’s talk. He always did that, being worried. He took over my part, being Daddy Direction for me for a while. I sighed.

“So..” he started out waiting for me to talk. But I wasn’t going to make it that easy for him to torture me, so I kept quiet. “Did you talk to Danielle last night?” I didn’t want to talk about it. Niall knew that. I hadn’t talked to Danielle in forever. Not since the break-up. She wouldn’t talk to me anymore, which broke my heart though we knew it probably was best for the both of us. She kept telling me it wasn’t my fault that she broke up with me, but of course it felt like it. It had taken me quite some time to realize that there was nothing I could do or say to make her come back, so now I was in the state of grief where I just felt sorry for myself. And lately I tended to drown myself in alcohol in order to do so. It worked out pretty well for me, though it had the lads worried about me. I kept assuring them I was fine, but of course they wouldn’t just let go of it.

“I met a girl last night.” I said trying to change the subject. “She was really nice.” It worked. Niall’s eyes grew wide. He didn’t say anything for a while and we just sat in silence.

“Now that’s a new way of dealing with things..” Niall said after a while. “Might as well screw all of Mullingar.”

I laughed. “Not nice like that. I actually thought more about her being a girl for you.” Now Niall was the one laughing. “Everyone living in this town is either related to me, or I have dated them before. Told you, Mullingar is a freaking small town.” I joined his laughter.

“Well, aren’t you lucky then, because she’s not from here she said.”

“You remember that?”

“Unbelievable, huh?” We laughed again.

“Wait, now how did you turn that conversation around again? We shouldn’t be talking about me.” Niall complained and I grinned shyly as he blew my cover.

“Oh yes, we should!” I argued back though. “See it as my way off getting through my break-up.”

“Your way of getting through the break-up? Is to hook me up with some chick from a bar you met once?” He chuckled.

“Yes, why not!? You need a girl anyways, Nialler.” He sighed but I patted his back encouragingly. “We’ll just go back to the pub tonight and I’ll introduce you to her.”

Niall didn’t seem too excited. He grimaced. “How do you even know she’s going to be there tonight?”

“She’s the bartender, fool.”


	4. Chapter 4

Niall’s POV:

Liam dragged me to Dan’s pub that night. I had known Dan since kindergarten, because I used to be good friends with his daughters. I had even been in his pub a couple times before, the last time just the other week with Liam together to watch some American football game he wanted to see. This time he seemed a lot more excited though.

“You sure, you don’t have a little crush on her?” I asked as we walked down one of the streets of downtown Mullingar. Liam gave me an annoyed look and didn’t say anything. He always did that; the looks. He wouldn’t talk to you but you had to understand what he meant with his mysterious looks and cocked eyebrows.

It was just past 9 pm when we reached the pub and it seemed quite busy. I followed Liam who went for the bar right away and pulled up two stools for us to sit on. Climbing onto my stool next to him I looked around only to find that the pub hadn’t changed since I had been here last. Same old, same old.

“Whiskey again, Liam?” I female voice asked from across the bar and I turned my head to look at girl who spoke. She wasn’t one of Dan’s daughters and I hadn’t seen her before. Maybe that was the girl Liam was talking about and she was from out of town.

“Nah, we’ll take two pints.” Liam answered and she flashed him a grin before she walked away to get our beers. I watched her draw the beer and how she tucked strands of her long ash-blond hair behind her ears, before she returned with the two pints. Her cheeks were rosy and gave her pale tan a fresh look. I smiled at her and thanked as she set down the pint.

As she walked away again I picked up my pint to click glasses with Liam but he just grinned at me. “She’s fit, isn’t she?” he asked and I rolled my eyes.

“Yeah, she is. So what?” Liam was still grinning at me as I took the first sip of beer. He was acting like a child.

“You should ask her out, Nialler.”

“Liam.” He annoyed me. “Come on. You promised to leave me alone when I came here with you.”

“I’m sorry, mate. All I’m saying is that you and her would have some lovely babies.”

I didn’t respond at all. Ignoring him usually shut Liam up. Usually.

“Though she’d probably have lovely babies with anyone.”

“God, Liam! Stop the drooling, just ask her out yourself.”

He glared at me. Too early. Too early for dating-jokes. This break-up was tough. I felt bad for Liam that Danielle broke up with him; I really did. But it was getting annoying. There were too many opportunities for great jokes about girls that already passed because we all had to watch our language around Liam. Daddy Direction. Practically going through a divorce.

“I don’t recall her name..” Liam said more to himself than to me. “It was something super weird, but she had a nickname, I just don’t..” His voice trailed off.

“Coco.” Somebody to my right said. I turned my head to look at an middle-aged man who I know worked at a local insurance-company. I was confused and shook my head a little. “Excuse me?”

“Her name.” He nodded towards the girl drawing even more beer now, laughing over something. “The girl’s name is Coco.”

“Oh yeah, right!” Liam exclaimed. “How do you know though?” He asked quickly afterwards and we both looked at the man next to us who just innocently raised his hands.

“Well lads, you’re not the only ones coming here to look at the pretty girls.” He said with a grin. I felt like I had to vomit. This guy was at least twice her age. Disgusting! The thought of him seeing her that way was just.. ugh.

I turned towards Liam again who’s face read the same expression as mine. “That’s so disgusting.” He whispered and I nodded.

Taking my time and watching the people at the pub I had a feeling that probably half the people were only here to drool over the girls Dan had working for him. That was probably also the reason he usually had his daughters only working in the kitchen.

Coco strolled by many times and I caught Liam starring at her now and then. I nudged him in the side, but he really didn’t seem to think it was funny. He muttered something under his breath and I pursed my lips to hide the smile trying to creep across my lips.

“Coco, luv, can I get another one?” The man next to me asked pointing at his empty glass. She just nodded and returned a moment later with the new pint. “There you go, Uncle Jim.” She said and took the empty glass away, setting the new one in its place. My jaw dropped.

The man next to me looked at me and laughed loudly. “I got you real good there, didn’t I?” He asked still laughing loudly and I blushed a little looking over at Liam who smiled a little embarrassed.

“Oh, well what did you do now?” Coco asked pulling up her eyebrows and looking at the man angrily.

“Just messed with the two boys here. Nothing bad, right boys?” He looked at us with a wide grin, taking a sip of his new beer.

“Please don’t mind him. He’s that embarrassing uncle every family has.” She said to Liam and me with a smirk on her face and took a quick look at her uncle then.

“Don’t say that. You’re staying with me and you don’t want to get kicked out, do you?” He exclaimed and she shook her head with a slight smile on her lips.

“Whatever. Now just let the boys have their beers, and go sit with Greg.” She said pointing across the bar and her uncle groaned but got up and left to sit somewhere else.

“Again, I’m sorry.” she said looking a little embarrassed herself. “Do you two want another beer?”

“Sure.” I said as Liam still didn’t seem to caught himself. Coco walked off and I waved my hand in front of Liam’s eyes. “Hey mate! You still there?” He blinked twice before he nodded.

Coco returned and sat the beers in front of us, taking the empty glasses and starting to rinse them. She was still standing kind of close and Liam looked at her with interested in his eyes.

“London you said, right?” He asked and she nodded. “I’m surprised you remember.” “Yeah, me too.” They laughed, but didn’t quite get the hang of the conversation.

“So what are you two up to tonight? Obviously you’re not drowning your brain in alcohol again.” She said with a quick look at Liam and then flashing me a smile. She caught me a little off guard and I’m sure the smile I shot back looked rather scary than friendly.

“Uh, we’re just hanging out. Told you I’d come by and bring a friend.” Liam said and her eyes grew a little wider.

“You do remember quite a lot.” She simply stated and yet again I was lost in their conversation. Before Liam could say another word the other girl working for Dan, Lina, came by and asked Coco to help her out with something so they left together. I had known Lina since secondary school and thought about asking her about Coco. She was working with her so I bet she knew quite a lot about her. Or at least her real name and what she was doing here and stuff. It was rare that we had new people coming to Mullingar, so when we did the word about their story usually spread quickly. Of course it never reached me though, cause I was gone all the time. I sighed.

“You alright, mate?” Liam asked and I looked up at him. “Yeah, sure. Just thinking..” He nodded.

Scrollan’s POV:

Lina pulled me aside and then looked me with her eyes wide open. “Isn’t that that guy from last night?” I nodded. “Yeah, but he’s having less alcohol today.” We chuckled. “Listen, Coco. I’m not sure about this Liam kid, but I do know the blond one. And he’s.. different. Barely in town anymore. And yeah you know.. just not the kind of guys you would want to get tangled up with.” I pulled up my eyebrows. “Are you warning me, Lina?” She shrugged. “So wait.. What is it that they do? Are they like.. secret agents or something?” There was no way they were. They looked to be in their twenties, tops. Probably more around my age.

“Haha, no. I just.. I guess you gotta ask them yourself.” Lina said and I was a little annoyed and confused by her secretiveness. “Lina, come on. Don’t be-” I stopped talking when I heard somebody call my name from the bar. I turned and saw Liam leaning over the bar waving at me. Might as well ask him right now. I walked over to them.

“More beer, boys?”

“No thanks.” Liam replied. “How much do we owe you?”

“You’re leaving?”

“Yes.” Oh.. So much for asking them right now.

“I uh- Twelve. You owe me twelve.”

Liam handed me fifteen pounds and as I turned to get their change he called me back. “Keep the change.” I smiled. “Thank you.”

They got up. “Are you coming to watch the game tomorrow?” I asked before I realized what I was doing. Ugh, go ahead. Embarrass yourself, Coco. The two boys smiled and then exchanged quick looks. “We don’t know yet. Maybe.. Are you working tomorrow?” Liam asked and my eyes opened wide in surprise. “Uhm, yeah. I am.” “Alright. I guess then we’ll be around, right?” He said turning towards his blond friend and nudging him lightly. I wasn’t positive, but I thought I saw him blush under Liam’s words.

“See you, then.” I said and they waved as they walked away. Weren’t they quite a handful. I chuckled to myself. They were nice though. And tipped me well. Lina’s odd words worried me somehow. What could be wrong with those two, though they seemed to be so normal and so nice? Not to mention both of their looks, though especially Liam wasn’t really my type. The other one.. He was blond and I didn’t usually go for blond guys, but well. I shook my head. Why was I even thinking about this? Like I had any chance with them. They were so confident and didn’t seem to be interested in girls at all. Well Liam apparently had just broken up with his girlfriend so that would explain something, but Mr blond wasn’t-

A call from across the bar interrupted my thoughts. I sighed before picking up my work again, pushing my thoughts to the back of my head. I couldn’t deny though that I was happy they said they were coming back the next day.


	5. Chapter 5

Scrollan’s POV:

I was needed all over the place, everyone was calling out my name. “Coco! Another one.” I handed out more pints that night that I had in the whole two weeks before. And the football game had not even started yet. Now I knew what Lina had meant when she had said that there were going to be no more quiet nights as soon as the football season started. And even though work was stressful and busy tonight I could not deny that I enjoyed it.

Lina and I were behind the bar tonight, Dan’s daughters had taken over waiting the tables and Dan himself was drawing the beer for us so we did not have to waste time doing that. His face was glowing and I knew he was excited about all the money he was making tonight. Lucky him.

It was incredibly loud in the pub, with the TVs’ speaker turned up all the way, broadcasting some interviews before the game and plenty of men huddling around the little tables and the bar chatting about this year’s season. But to my embarrassment my head turned immediately when I heard a familiar voice.

“Coco. Hey, Coco!” Liam chanted, leaning over the bar. I unwillingly grinned at him before making my way over to him quickly. His blond friend was with him again.

“Hey guys. What’s up?” I asked smiling.

“Ah, not much. Been missing us?”

“Absolutely.” I said sarcastically, though I had indeed been looking out for them. Not for a particular reason but just because it was nice chatting with people your own age.

“Alright.” Liam laughed. “Can we get beer?”

I nodded, making my way over to Dan and taking two beers to carry them over to the boys. But I had no chance to talk to them – or Liam, since the other one was not really talking to me – any longer as other people in the pub were motioning towards me to get them more beer. Apologizing I smiled at them and then walked off, taking care of the other guests.

It was incredible how all men in Ireland seemed to be under the spell of football. As soon as the game started every single male person in the room had their eyes fixed on the TV screens. One could not necessarily say things quieted down, but at least people had stopped calling my name. Much rather they were yelling the players names now, which I knew none of. Though halfway through the game I could have named at least ten due to the constant repetition of their names by the crowd – on and off screen.

The break after the first halftime was busy again and I could not wait for the fifteen minutes to be over and for everyone to focus back on the game. But since the local team most of the people had been cheering for was 0-4 behind, a large number of them had lost interest in the game after all. There was less screaming and more casual talking and to me it almost felt like a normal night at the pub.

Lina and I were standing together watching the people sitting at the bar and the tables. As I let my gaze wander through the room I passed Liam and saw that his friend was looking at him. I grinned at him and after a moment I saw his lips twitch into a smile as well.

“More beer?” I asked stepping closer towards them.

“Uh, sure.” He said quickly and I went to draw a beer for him. Dan had stopped helping us out as soon as the game started. He was a huge fan and apparently a good game of football was more important than his business.

When I returned with the beer I saw Liam and his friend stare at each other for a moment. When I sat the pint onto the counter Liam just grinned quickly before turning back towards the TV ignoring both of us completely. Well, thanks.

I was just about to turn and head back to Lina when the blond boy suddenly spoke. “What’s your er.. name? Like your real name..” Well now, that was unexpected.

“Scrollan.” His eyes widened a bit. “I know, it’s a little weird. Just say Coco.” He nodded for a moment. “So what’s your name?” He hesitated for a moment looking at me funny before he spoke.

“Niall.”

I nodded. What do you say to this? I smiled at him one last time before I turned, heading back to Lina who was still leaning against the back of the bar eying my suspiciously.

“Still hanging out with those two?” She asked looking at me sternly.

“I think you can barely call this hanging out. I’m working.” I said waving my hand trying to get her to stop.

“So what did they say?”

“His name is Niall.”

“I could have told you that, Coco.”

“Well, if you know so much about them, why don’t you tell me?”

“Jeez, calm down.” She cocked her eyebrows and shot me a look. I leaned against the bar next to her, facing away from her though. I wanted to know more about the two boys. Lina was making all those weird comments and I wondered what it was with the two that made her go all crazy on them.

We stood in silence for a moment. Not really silence though, as the game was still going. Both of us were pouting a little, glancing at the other every now and then.

Just as I was about to cut my act and give into her a loud whistle filled the room. The game was over. People were frowning loudly over the lost game and started shuffling through the room. Some ordering more beer, others making their way to Dan who was at the cash register now, taking the people’s money and talking to them about the game a little.

Lina was handing out a few more pints and I was still standing leaned against the bar, watching people walk by, chatting away. The volume of the TV was turned down and everything quieted down a bit. A tiny bit.

Looking around I caught Niall’s gaze again and smiled shyly. It was kind of awkward that he caught me looking at him twice this evening already but I tried not to show my embarrassment. Still smiling I looked away a little and found that Liam was grinning at me widely. He called my name and I saw Niall shift uncomfortably next to him as I approached them.

“Beer?” I asked and grabbed their empty glasses.

“I don’t know actually. Do we want another beer, Nialler?” Liam asked grinning widely and turning the face the blond Irish boy next to him who started blushing as Liam and I both looked at him.

“Hmm sure.” He muttered and looked away a little. Still trying to figure out what was going on between the two boys I went to get their beers and when I returned I found them with their heads stuck together whispering quietly.

“Why don’t we ask her?” Liam said and Niall’s face dropped visibly. Almost literally. “Now, Coco. What do you think of bets?”

I shrugged. Bets? “Betting debts are debts of honor.”

Liam grinned widely. “Listen to these wise words, my friend.” He said petting Niall on the back, who was just mumbling something under his breath and took sip of his beer.

About half an hour later after some more blushing on Niall’s part, wide grinning on Liam’s part and not knowing what was going on at all on my part, the boys decided to leave.

“We’ll be back.” Liam announced, grinning widely; again. Niall blushed brightly; again. And I had no idea what they were walking about; again. Niall handed me some money saying I could keep the change and then they left.

Niall’s POV:

Liam and I made our way home barely speaking, both of us tangled up in our thoughts. As we almost reached my home Liam’s phone rang and from the glance he shot at the phone and then at me I knew this was important. Danielle. Liam answered and tried very hard not to listen, to give him some sort of privacy. But soon enough we reached the house anyways and I made my way into my room quickly leaving Liam to himself.

Thirty minutes later I heard a quiet knock on my door. I had just changed into some sweatpants and was about to go to bed but as Liam entered with that special look on his face I knew I would not be getting sleep anytime soon. Hmm.

“Can I come in?” Liam asked standing in the doorway. His eyes were red and he had obviously been crying. His shirt was stained and crinkled up.

“Sure.” I sat down onto my bed and petted the space next to me. Liam closed the door behind him and then came walking over to the bed and sat down by my side. I encouragingly squeezed his shoulder and waited for him to speak. It did not look like him and Danielle got anything sorted out.

“Can I uh.. Stay here tonight?” His question took me by surprise and my eyes grew wider which he mistook for something else. “If you don’t want, that’s okay. Never mind. Forget I even asked.” He made an attempt go get up, but I grabbed his shoulder again.

“No, no. You can stay of course. Come.” I scooted over a little to make room for him next to me. He hesitated a little but eventually came to sit next to me, still not speaking about the phone call. We sat in silence for a while and when I figured he was not going to talk about it, I just crawled underneath the blanket. He mirrored me and I went to switch my bed lights off. Looks like I’m gonna get more sleep than I thought..

“Niall?” Never mind.

“Yeah?”

I heard him take a deep breath and shuffle a bit next to me. “Why does she..? She.. Danielle just called and- ..” His voice cracked and he stopped talking. I didn’t really know what to say so I just scooted a little closer towards him. I wanted to show him that I cared and that I wanted to comfort him but I did not know how to. We were all kind of physical with each other in the band but I knew Liam was not the biggest fan of that. And also I did not want for things to be awkward. After all we were cuddling in my bed right now. Hmm.

“Can I get a hug?” Liam asked answering my unspoken questions.

“A Horan Hug?”

“Yes, please.”

I grinned away, wrapping my arms around him kind of awkwardly and pulling him close. I felt his calm breath against the skin on my neck. Soothingly I stroked his back.

“I miss her.” Liam said, his voice cracking again and it sounded like he was this close to crying. “I know.” I muttered against his hair, continuously running my hands up and down his back, trying to calm him down. He sighed audibly and pulled away a little so I let go of him and pulled my arms back, wrapping them around my own torso.

“You lost your bet.” Liam said quietly after a while and it took me a while to understand what he was talking about. How could he think about this now?

“No, I didn’t.”

“Well, you didn’t ask her out, did you?”

“We never said I only had tonight to ask her, Li.”

“Hmm.”

He knew I was right. Lucky me. My thoughts wandered off to Coco and how the night had gone. After Liam had forced me into talking to her I at least got some information our of her. Scrollan. Her real name. It indeed was weird.

And hopefully she did not realize where Liam was going with his not-so-inconspicuous hints. It had seriously been embarrassing.

“Liam?”

“Hmm.” He muttered, sounding half asleep already.

“Don’t ever be this awkward around her again.”

He chuckled quietly, his voice still sounding a little raspy. “Man up, then.”

The next day I managed to convince Liam not to come to the pub with me. I told him it would be a lot easier for me to ask Coco out if he was not around and she did not feel pressured to say the right things. Luckily he bought it, so that night I walked to Dan’s pub by myself.

As soon as I got there I wished Liam had come. There was nothing more awkward than sitting in a bar by yourself. A lot of the older men from town eyed me suspiciously as I ordered my pint. Lina took my order, her lips pressed in a straight line. She did not exactly seem happy to see me, though I had not talked to her in forever so maybe that was just the way she acted. I did not let it bother my mind.

I waited for almost two hours. But Coco never showed. Weird.. When I paid for my beer I thought about asking Lina about her, but dropped the thought when I saw her face turn bitter again when she approached me.

Liam did not believe a word I said.

“You just did not dare to ask her out!” He stated when I got home. “She’s been there every single night I went to that pub. I don’t believe she wasn’t there tonight.”

“I’m telling you, Li. She wasn’t! I sweat to God.”

“Do you, now?”

He was making me mad. But it did not help. And neither did the fact that Coco never showed the next day either. She really seemed to have disappeared.

Saturday morning I woke early and decided to go to town to get some fresh bread for the breakfast. I did not take the car and just walked, since it was not very far. Nothing in Mullingar was.

At the bakery I ran into Laura, the older one of Dan’s daughters. She was around my age.

“Oh, hey.” She said when she saw me and I smiled back politely, not planning on talking to her. But then it came to my mind that I could probably ask her about Coco, so I stopped to talk to her.

“Laura, hi. Haven’t seen you in forever. How are things going?”

“Good, good. How are you? How’s the band?” She grinned.

“Everything’s good, thanks. Listen, ehm.. That new girl working at your dad’s pub..”

“Coco?”

“Yeah, right. Well.. Is she still working for him?”

“I think so, yes. She just had a few days off, I guess. But I think she’s coming back tonight.” I grinned contently. After all I still had a bet to win. “Why do you ask?”

“Err..” Her question caught me off guard. “Just, well.. wondering?”

Laura laughed. “Haha, I get it. She’s fit. We all know that. Do you want me to give you the bullet?” “Laura, I-” “Fine. She’s single first of all. So there’s nothing to worry about. And she’s from London and staying with her aunt and uncle here for the summer. She said she wasn’t looking for anything, but honestly? The way she’s flirting at the bar she can’t tell she’s not putting her self out there I just-”

“Laura.” I interrupted her. “I really don’t look at her her that way.”

“Oh.”

She seemed surprised. It looked like there indeed had been a lot of guys asking about Coco then. Popular girl. And even though I did not like to admit it Laura had given me one crucial information. Coco was single. So at least I was not putting myself in the danger of getting beat up by her boyfriend when I asked her out. Only for the bet of course.


	6. Chapter 6

Niall’s POV:

Later that day, after meeting Laura I went back to Dan’s pub. I was wondering if people in town already considered me an alcoholic for showing up there three days in a row. And four times within a week. But some part of brain didn’t care at all and thus I found myself making my way to the pub yet again that night.

It was colder than I had expected it to be, but when I reached the doors I hesitated anyways. Maybe I should have thought of a strategy before. Something to say to her. A good pick-up line? If only Harry was around. He was the one who knew how to treat the ladies. I texted him.

Haz. Shoot me a pick-up line. Quick.

Waiting for his response I stood still in front of the pub just as some more people came approaching the doors. “You coming, son?” One of the men asked holding the door wide open for me. I hesitated for a moment, but then followed them right inside in order to avoid awkwardness later on. Great.

I glanced around and saw that the pub was unusually quiet tonight. It was Saturday. Where was everyone? Slightly confused I strolled across the room towards the bar and climbed onto one of the bar stools. I saw Lina handing out beer to three men sitting on the other end of the bar and as I sat down she looked up at me. Rolling her eyes she sat down the pints and walked towards me.

“She’ll be right with you.” She said walking to the back of the bar. Oh.. I didn’t think I was being obvious, was I?

A moment later Coco showed up behind the bar, looking up in surprise as she saw me. “Niall.” She stated somewhat happily and walked closer to me.

“Hey Scrollan.” I said and she raised her eyebrows at me.

“Beer?” I nodded. She turned around to grab a glass and fill it with the oh-so-familiar beverage. “There you go.” She sat it down in front of me and I glanced at her thankfully. I took my first sip thinking about something to say, but her eyes distracted me. Grass green eyes, watching me with amusement.

“You come here often?” She asked and I shrugged.

“Whenever I’m in town, yeah.” That was only a half-lie. Depending on how you defined ‘often’.

“Lina told me uh..” She waved her hand to the back of the bar motioning towards Lina. “That uh.. That you’re gone a lot. So what well.. what do you do? If I may ask.” She added quickly as I didn’t respond right away.

Well.. What do you say to this? It felt a little weird thinking that she hadn’t recognized me. Or Liam. And that nobody had told her. Or maybe they had but she just didn’t know One Direction. Which would still be weird considering that she lived in London. She was just confusing.

“I, well.. I moved to London first of all. And I guess I’m busy with work a lot.”

“Work?”

“Do you know the X-Factor?”

She pouted a little. “Of course I do.” Oh.. “So do you work for them?” Oh, wait what!

“Something like that.” I said carefully trying to see you she was testing me. But yet again this was only a half-lie. We were still working for the X-Factor. Occasionally. In a way.

Coco smiled and picked up a couple of empty glasses to carry them to the back of the bar and rinse them. I took this time to pull my phone out quickly to see if Harry had texted back. He did.

Picking up ladies now, are we Nialler? Haha. But I’m afraid you couldn’t pull off any of my good ones. So just play the I’m-In-One-Direction card.

I snorted. Like I couldn’t pull off his pick-up lines. He really wasn’t that creative. But I wasn’t going to dwell on it so I just let it go.

She doesn’t know One Direction..

I texted him back quickly and then putting my phone down onto the bar, the screen facing downwards just in case Harry would text back and Coco was close.

Why would you even be talking to her then?

I frowned. Of course Harry didn’t understand. He was too.. focused on other things. I shoved my phone back into my pocket biting my lip angrily. Looked liked I had to do this without his help. Or any help. But I could do it. It was only a bet after all. No feelings involved.

It took me an entire hour to make up a plan I was happy with. Though it wasn’t really a plan and I still didn’t know how it possibly took me an hour to come up with this. It was simple and.. hopefully worked. Though if it didn’t I could still just tell Liam I lost the bet and it wouldn’t be that bad, right? Not right. Liam would never let me forget about this. So I had to do it.

“Hey, Coco?”

She looked up and walked over to me. “Yeah?”

“I uh.. Can I pay?”

“Sure.”

She scribbled something onto her notebook and then took the money I was handing her. As she walked towards the cash register to get my change I was preparing myself for the question I was about to ask.

I slid down the bar stool leaning against the bar, trying to look cool and relaxed. I ran my hand through my hair as Coco took incredibly long, fiddling with the change and chatting with Lina for a moment before returning. She handed me then money and my skin started burning where she had touched it. Oh..

“Err..” I was starring at her a little awkwardly as she shot me a questioning look. “Err..” This was getting out of hand. Amusement spread over Coco’s face and she pursed her lips, trying to hid a smile. Of course this was funny to her.

“Wouldyouliketogosometime?”

Scrollan’s POV:

“Sorry?”

Niall starred at me, his mouth falling open. “Err..” What was wrong with him? He seemed so nervous, holding onto the bar like it was the last piece of wood on earth to keep him from drowning.

“I, well.. Would you” He stopped again. Jesus Christ. Was I being intimidating? “Would you like to.. go out. Sometime? Maybe. If you’d like.”

A wide grin spread on my face and unwillingly I heard myself say “Yes, sure.” before my brain even processed anything that was going on. No, no, no.

“Okay, cool.” Niall seemed a little more relaxed now. “Well, I really gotta go now. But why don’t you give me a call sometime?” He pushed one on the napkins laying on top of the counter closer towards me. I took it and saw that he had scribbled some numbers on there. I swallowed hard and nodded as I pushed the napkin into one of my pockets.

“See you, Scrollan.”

“Bye, Niall.”

He waved and left and I was confused. Majorly. For once it was weird how he kept calling me with my full name. Not that I would mind, but nobody else here did it. Expect my aunt and Dan. But I felt like I could get used to this. But what about the whole asking me out thing? That was really kind of.. flattering? Nice? Weird? Forward? My head was spinning. Too much going on for now.

As new customers entered the pub my head flinched up, I forced the idiotic smile on my face to look more like a friendly smile and then went to get them some beer, deciding to worry about Niall later.

It was just past midnight when Lina and I waved at Dan and then started strolling down the streets again, slowly making our way home. It was the first time since Niall had left that I allowed myself to think about him.

“Lina?”

“Hmm.” She yawned into the answer. We were both tired. Work could be exhausting, even when we weren’t as busy. Just standing up for six hours straight made us fall right into bed every night.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“About Niall.. He asked me out.”

She frowned. “That’s not a question.”

“Lina!” I was frowning at her too now. But as I figured this already meant she didn’t really approve. And I wanted her to. After all she was the only friend I had around here. And if I decided to go on spontaneously go on dates now I would need somebody to pick out my clothes, do my hair and dish the dirt with me.

“Well, did he tell you what he does?”

“For work? Yeah.”

She looked at me in surprise. “Did he? The whole X-Factor thing?”

“Yes.”

The surprised look on her face didn’t fade. “Oh okay. And you still want to go out with him?”

“Yeah, I mean.. Yes.” I didn’t quite know what she was talking about. After all he had a normal job, right? Okay, maybe he was gone a lot, but I wasn’t really planning on being in a relationship with him. It was just a date after all, right? Nothing major. Just fun.

“Hmm, okay. Well if that’s the case. Good luck, I guess.” Lina shrugged a little and I laughed. “Good luck? That’s all the advice I’m getting? Come on.. He’s an Irishman, you’re gonna have to help me pick out an outfit and everything!”

She chuckled as I nudged her. “Fine. I’ll help you. But I won’t stop thinking he’s weird.”

“That’s alright. It’s probably because he’s Irish.”

She pushed me lightly making me chuckle yet again. We had stopped walking as we reached the intersection from which on we had to walk separate ways. Lina gazed at me impassively for a moment and then focused on my face again before talking.

“I’ll uh.. See you tomorrow I guess? We can discuss everything else then, alright?”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

“Okay, good night.”

“Good night, Lina. Bye!”


	7. Chapter 7

Niall’s POV:

Later that day, after meeting Laura I went back to Dan’s pub. I was wondering if people in town already considered me an alcoholic for showing up there three days in a row. And four times within a week. But some part of brain didn’t care at all and thus I found myself making my way to the pub yet again that night.

It was colder than I had expected it to be, but when I reached the doors I hesitated anyways. Maybe I should have thought of a strategy before. Something to say to her. A good pick-up line? If only Harry was around. He was the one who knew how to treat the ladies. I texted him.

Haz. Shoot me a pick-up line. Quick.

Waiting for his response I stood still in front of the pub just as some more people came approaching the doors. “You coming, son?” One of the men asked holding the door wide open for me. I hesitated for a moment, but then followed them right inside in order to avoid awkwardness later on. Great.

I glanced around and saw that the pub was unusually quiet tonight. It was Saturday. Where was everyone? Slightly confused I strolled across the room towards the bar and climbed onto one of the bar stools. I saw Lina handing out beer to three men sitting on the other end of the bar and as I sat down she looked up at me. Rolling her eyes she sat down the pints and walked towards me.

“She’ll be right with you.” She said walking to the back of the bar. Oh.. I didn’t think I was being obvious, was I?

A moment later Coco showed up behind the bar, looking up in surprise as she saw me. “Niall.” She stated somewhat happily and walked closer to me.

“Hey Scrollan.” I said and she raised her eyebrows at me.

“Beer?” I nodded. She turned around to grab a glass and fill it with the oh-so-familiar beverage. “There you go.” She sat it down in front of me and I glanced at her thankfully. I took my first sip thinking about something to say, but her eyes distracted me. Grass green eyes, watching me with amusement.

“You come here often?” She asked and I shrugged.

“Whenever I’m in town, yeah.” That was only a half-lie. Depending on how you defined ‘often’.

“Lina told me uh..” She waved her hand to the back of the bar motioning towards Lina. “That uh.. That you’re gone a lot. So what well.. what do you do? If I may ask.” She added quickly as I didn’t respond right away.

Well.. What do you say to this? It felt a little weird thinking that she hadn’t recognized me. Or Liam. And that nobody had told her. Or maybe they had but she just didn’t know One Direction. Which would still be weird considering that she lived in London. She was just confusing.

“I, well.. I moved to London first of all. And I guess I’m busy with work a lot.”

“Work?”

“Do you know the X-Factor?”

She pouted a little. “Of course I do.” Oh.. “So do you work for them?” Oh, wait what!

“Something like that.” I said carefully trying to see you she was testing me. But yet again this was only a half-lie. We were still working for the X-Factor. Occasionally. In a way.

Coco smiled and picked up a couple of empty glasses to carry them to the back of the bar and rinse them. I took this time to pull my phone out quickly to see if Harry had texted back. He did.

Picking up ladies now, are we Nialler? Haha. But I’m afraid you couldn’t pull off any of my good ones. So just play the I’m-In-One-Direction card.

I snorted. Like I couldn’t pull off his pick-up lines. He really wasn’t that creative. But I wasn’t going to dwell on it so I just let it go.

She doesn’t know One Direction..

I texted him back quickly and then putting my phone down onto the bar, the screen facing downwards just in case Harry would text back and Coco was close.

Why would you even be talking to her then?

I frowned. Of course Harry didn’t understand. He was too.. focused on other things. I shoved my phone back into my pocket biting my lip angrily. Looked liked I had to do this without his help. Or any help. But I could do it. It was only a bet after all. No feelings involved.

It took me an entire hour to make up a plan I was happy with. Though it wasn’t really a plan and I still didn’t know how it possibly took me an hour to come up with this. It was simple and.. hopefully worked. Though if it didn’t I could still just tell Liam I lost the bet and it wouldn’t be that bad, right? Not right. Liam would never let me forget about this. So I had to do it.

“Hey, Coco?”

She looked up and walked over to me. “Yeah?”

“I uh.. Can I pay?”

“Sure.”

She scribbled something onto her notebook and then took the money I was handing her. As she walked towards the cash register to get my change I was preparing myself for the question I was about to ask.

I slid down the bar stool leaning against the bar, trying to look cool and relaxed. I ran my hand through my hair as Coco took incredibly long, fiddling with the change and chatting with Lina for a moment before returning. She handed me then money and my skin started burning where she had touched it. Oh..

“Err..” I was starring at her a little awkwardly as she shot me a questioning look. “Err..” This was getting out of hand. Amusement spread over Coco’s face and she pursed her lips, trying to hid a smile. Of course this was funny to her.

“Wouldyouliketogosometime?”

Scrollan’s POV:

“Sorry?”

Niall starred at me, his mouth falling open. “Err..” What was wrong with him? He seemed so nervous, holding onto the bar like it was the last piece of wood on earth to keep him from drowning.

“I, well.. Would you” He stopped again. Jesus Christ. Was I being intimidating? “Would you like to.. go out. Sometime? Maybe. If you’d like.”

A wide grin spread on my face and unwillingly I heard myself say “Yes, sure.” before my brain even processed anything that was going on. No, no, no.

“Okay, cool.” Niall seemed a little more relaxed now. “Well, I really gotta go now. But why don’t you give me a call sometime?” He pushed one on the napkins laying on top of the counter closer towards me. I took it and saw that he had scribbled some numbers on there. I swallowed hard and nodded as I pushed the napkin into one of my pockets.

“See you, Scrollan.”

“Bye, Niall.”

He waved and left and I was confused. Majorly. For once it was weird how he kept calling me with my full name. Not that I would mind, but nobody else here did it. Expect my aunt and Dan. But I felt like I could get used to this. But what about the whole asking me out thing? That was really kind of.. flattering? Nice? Weird? Forward? My head was spinning. Too much going on for now.

As new customers entered the pub my head flinched up, I forced the idiotic smile on my face to look more like a friendly smile and then went to get them some beer, deciding to worry about Niall later.

It was just past midnight when Lina and I waved at Dan and then started strolling down the streets again, slowly making our way home. It was the first time since Niall had left that I allowed myself to think about him.

“Lina?”

“Hmm.” She yawned into the answer. We were both tired. Work could be exhausting, even when we weren’t as busy. Just standing up for six hours straight made us fall right into bed every night.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“About Niall.. He asked me out.”

She frowned. “That’s not a question.”

“Lina!” I was frowning at her too now. But as I figured this already meant she didn’t really approve. And I wanted her to. After all she was the only friend I had around here. And if I decided to go on spontaneously go on dates now I would need somebody to pick out my clothes, do my hair and dish the dirt with me.

“Well, did he tell you what he does?”

“For work? Yeah.”

She looked at me in surprise. “Did he? The whole X-Factor thing?”

“Yes.”

The surprised look on her face didn’t fade. “Oh okay. And you still want to go out with him?”

“Yeah, I mean.. Yes.” I didn’t quite know what she was talking about. After all he had a normal job, right? Okay, maybe he was gone a lot, but I wasn’t really planning on being in a relationship with him. It was just a date after all, right? Nothing major. Just fun.

“Hmm, okay. Well if that’s the case. Good luck, I guess.” Lina shrugged a little and I laughed. “Good luck? That’s all the advice I’m getting? Come on.. He’s an Irishman, you’re gonna have to help me pick out an outfit and everything!”

She chuckled as I nudged her. “Fine. I’ll help you. But I won’t stop thinking he’s weird.”

“That’s alright. It’s probably because he’s Irish.”

She pushed me lightly making me chuckle yet again. We had stopped walking as we reached the intersection from which on we had to walk separate ways. Lina gazed at me impassively for a moment and then focused on my face again before talking.

“I’ll uh.. See you tomorrow I guess? We can discuss everything else then, alright?”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

“Okay, good night.”

“Good night, Lina. Bye!”


	8. Chapter 8

Liam’s POV:

To say that Niall had been ecstatic when he returned to the house would have been slightly understated. His face was glowing and the wide grin on his face gave away that things went very good. But I wanted to hear the whole story so I asked anyways.

“Hey Nialler. How’d it go?”

Niall jumped onto the bed and spread his long arms legs out, covering all of the mattress. So instead of fighting for some room next to him I simply pulled up a chair and sat down next to the bed. Niall bit his lip gazing at the sealing.

“Uhm, good I guess.”

“What did she say?”

“You mean before or after I made a total fool of myself?”

I laughed. “Afterwards, please.” Niall laughed as well.

“Well, long story short she eventually said she’d go out with me, so.. Looks like you can already get your phone out and tweet something nice about me.” He grinned.

“Not so fast. You actually have to go on the date! And I’m gonna come spy.. I mean how else am I gonna know you didn’t just lie to me?”

“Because I know you are totally going to ask her about it when we go down to the bar the next time and I can really save himself that kind of humiliation.”

“True story.”

Niall smirked at me and I wasn’t quite sure if it was because he had won the bet or if he actually was excited for his date.

“So.. When is this date?” I asked trying to sound as nonchalantly as possible. Niall shrugged. “I just gave her my number and told her to call.”

Niall and I agreed that we shouldn’t go to the bar anymore. For once his mom had started asking why we went out every night, which we didn’t manage to explain without getting awkward. But eventually she let go, rolling her eyes at us. “Kids.” She had muttered under her breath, making me and Niall smirk at each other, blushing lightly.

The other reason that kept us from going was that Coco hadn’t called yet and we both figured that going to the bar wasn’t the right thing to do. Personally I really wanted to see if she would actually text Niall eventually, when finding out that he wasn’t coming to the pub anymore. And though Niall agreed with me on this, I figured there were more reasons for him not to go. I didn’t ask him about it but I was almost positive that he was slightly embarrassed. So nervous around her. It was almost cute.

It took Coco two whole days till she texted Niall. Two days of sitting in Niall’s living room at night, watching movies, trying to cheer him up. I teased him about it, but he claimed being tired instead of admitting the not-so-inconspicuous reason for him being upset.

When she finally did text back we were down in the living room once again. Both of us cuddled up on one of the couches, zapping through the TV channels though nothing good was on anyways. Niall’s phone was laying on the coffee table in front of us and he leaned forward to grab it when its screen lit up. He furrowed his brows as he unlocked the phone and I only paid half attention to him, still zapping through the channels.

“Oh.” He said quietly after a moment, making me look up. “What is it?” He couldn’t hide the grin spreading all over his face. “’You two with the AA now, or what?’” Niall read out loud and then laughed. “It’s from Coco.” My eyes widened a little and I took the phone from his hands to read the text myself.

“AA?” I asked a little confused.

“Anonymous Alcoholics, I guess.”

I laughed. “’Cause we haven’t been to the bar for two nights?” He shrugged. “Guess that’s just her way of making me ask her out. And not the other way around.” She was a funny girl.

“Well, what a smart move.” I said grinning at him. Niall rolled his eyes at me and then grabbed his phone out of my hands, letting his fingers run over the screen. He was obviously thinking and I tried to keep quiet and just let him plan his next move. But after a few moments the silence was killing me and I just had to ask him.

“Okay, now you ask her out then?”

“Well technically I already did.” He responded but as I furrowed my brows at him he added “But since we hadn’t set a time and place yet I should better ask her again.” I nodded contently. He raised his phone, his fingers still lingering over the screen. Hmm, what to type..

“Should I just suggest something? Like ‘let’s do dinner tomorrow at eight’? Or is that gonna be weird, because I didn’t really reply to her message at all? And should I go funny? Because normally I would rather go sexy, but she went funny so.. I don’t know. What do you think Li?”

I raised my brows at him and shrugged. “I don’t know, mate. Just say something. It doesn’t really matter anyways. It’s just one date, remember?” I tried to tease but it totally went the wrong way.

“Yeah, that’s true.” Niall said, cocking his head to one side and then starting to type something. Great. He was over my teasing already. This wasn’t fun anymore.

Niall’s POV:

Twenty minutes later I had managed to not only keep a (texting-) conversation with Coco going, but also had convinced her to let me take her out. We had made plans for Wednesday. Oh or well, I had. Coco didn’t really know where we were going.

Please, Niall. Tell me. I wanna know where we go! I need to know how to dress. Haha. But for real.. Tell me. - xx

Told you like three times already: I’m not gonna tell you. It’ll be a surprise. And you can dress however you like. Casual will do, but I’ll take you in an evening gown as well. :) - xx

I’m not gonna go, if you won’t tell me, Niall. - xx

Yes you will, luv. ‘Cause you can’t resist. - xx

Argh, I hate you, Irishman.

My pleasure. :) I’ll come pick you up Wednesday at three. See you then! - xx

I couldn’t help but grin away as she kept texting me. She was incredibly stubborn and Liam kept laughing his butt off as I read the texts out loud to him. He wouldn’t stop making stupid comments about her and I, but I wasn’t in the mood for a fight so I let him have his way.

Later that night Liam and I were almost ready to go to bed and he came to sit on the edge of my bed for a moment, before he took off to go to his own room. He asked me what my actual plans for Wednesday were so I told him.

“That’s odd.” He commented after I had told him. “I mean.. Very unusual for a first date, don’t you think?”

“Hmm, yeah. But I don’t want to do the common dinner-and-a-movie kind of thing. Mainly because I’m too scared somebody might recognize me. And I don’t think she’d be too pleased to find out about the whole One Direction thing and stuff. I mean we both know how the chicks are..”

Liam laughed. “Yeah, that’s true.” He got up and straightened his pants, turning to leave but then stopping and facing me again. “You do know, you’re gonna have to tell her eventually, right?”

“Nah, man. It’s just one date and after that we’ll just be gone back to London. It’ll be fine.”

“Oh, okay. If you say so.. Good night.”

“Nighty, Li.”

Scrollan’s POV:

“Scrollan. Marie. Hovey. Get up now!” I woke up to Lina bouncing up and down on my bed calling my name loudly. “Jesus Christ.” I muttered angrily as I sat up to glance at her. She lean forward at her head was right in front of mine. “Hello, darling.” “Go away.” I tried pushing her off but she just hugged me and we fell back onto the bed.

Resigning I let her pull me down and just glanced past her head to see my aunt Lindsey stand in the doorway. “Sorry for letting her in.” She said laughing and then waved lightly before leaving the room. “Thanks a lot.” I muttered despite the fact that she was gone already.

Lina rolled off me and then sat up next to me. “Aren’t you excited?”

“It’s like five in the morning. I’m not excited about anything right now.”

“It’s more like ten. But whatever. You need to get up and get ready for your date.”

I frowned. But she was right. It was Wednesday already and Niall and I were going out today. Though I right now I didn’t want to think about it. Right now all I wanted to do was sleep. The previous night had been incredibly long with yet another football game and countless men staying in the bar all night due to the fact that the local team had unexpectedly won the game. At first I had really been excited for and with them, but as the time trickled by and it got past 2am I started feeling really tired and wanted to get home. It wasn’t before 4:30am though that I finally fell into bed and asleep right away.

I groaned and rolled over, cuddling back into my pillow. “Date. Date. Date.” Lina kept repeating, poking me lightly.

“Since when are you this excited? I thought you didn’t even like him.” I muttered into the pillow, still feeling too sleepy to have an actual conversation.

“Well.. I kinda do now. Because you like him. And I like that you like him.”

“I don’t like him.” I protested, my face still hidden in the pillows. Fortunately.

“Nonsense.” Lina said anyways and started pulling the covers off my body. “Get up, now. I’m gonna help you get ready. Pick out an outfit, do your hair, everything.”

I groaned again. Still too early.

Lina was good. She was a keeper. Best friend keeper. She knew just about everything there was to know about fashion, hair-dos and what not. And even though her fashion sense was slightly different from mine (or I just didn’t have any), after a while we ended up with an outfit she approved of and I felt comfortable in.

http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=63543097&.locale=de

“Hmm, looking good.” Lindsey commented as she strolled past the wide open door of my room for the thousandth time today.

“Just come on in and sit down.” I said a little distressed but Lindsey grinned widely at me and then took a seat next to Lina on the bed. I was watching myself critically in the mirror, still not too happy with the outfit.

“What if it’s too casual? I don’t wanna be under dressed. Lina chuckled behind me. “For the hundredth time: It’s gonna be alright. He said to dress however you like, so you will be fine.” She spoke slowly, as if she was talking to a child. I sighed. “Alright.”

“Well..” Lindsey got up, still looking at me. “Are you gonna tell me who he is now? I mean I’m gonna see him when he comes to pick you up anyways, so might as well tell me.”

“I uh..” So far I had refused to tell Lindsey about Niall. Lina seemed to know a lot of bad – or at least weird - stuff about him and I didn’t want my aunt to freak. She wasn’t as protective as my mom, though if Niall had a bad reputation in town she probably would not let me go. “Uh, his name is.. well.. Niall.”

“Niall who?” Oh crap.

“Niall Horan.”

Lindsey pulled up her eyebrows in surprise, cocking her head to one side. “Niall Horan?” Oh no.. “Well, Scrollan.. he’s quite the catch.” My eyes grew wide, even wider than hers. Well, at least she didn’t hate him. “I didn’t think he was single..” She added a little absentmindedly.

“Why is that?” I asked confused.

“Well for obvious reasons, right?” She responded and her and Lina laughed. For obvious reasons? He really wasn’t that good looking. Or nice. He was just.. normal. Cute and funny for sure, yes. But he didn’t seem like a very popular kid. Anyways..

I ignored Lindsey’s comments and the two girls’ snickering, straightening my sweatshirt a little and pulling the strands of my long hair in place. I was good to go.

“You ready?” Lina asked and I turned to check my looks in the mirror one last time before nodding slowly. “Okay, good. Because it’s almost three anyways. Niall should be here any moment.”

Great. For some reason my heart started beating faster and a light flush crept onto my cheeks. Lina and Lindsey grinned at me contently and I looked to the ground quickly. I picked up my bag and then made ma way down the hallway to slip on my shoes. Lina stood a couple feet away. “Good luck.” She said still grinning widely. “Yeah thanks.” I answered, my voice a little hoarse. Oh crap.

I cleared my throat and then looked out the little window by the door to see Niall pull up in his car. “There he is.” I stated and turned to face Lina again. She hugged me quickly and held my shoulders comfortingly. “Go get him.”

I growled and rolled my eyes, but slipped through the door quickly before Lina could say another word.


	9. Chapter 9

Niall’s POV:

„Hey girl, hey!“ I greeted Coco as she slipped through the door and walked towards the car. I was only halfway out the car when she reached it. “Well.. I was gonna come and get you at the door, but you were too quick.”

“Sorry about that.” She said with a shy smile.

“Ah, it’s alright.” I said as we both climbed into the car. “Guess you just couldn’t wait to see me.” Coco blushed a little and shifted in her seat as she put on the seat belt. “Well.. you’re my ride.” I laughed. “And, I’m your date.” “That as well.” She nodded and laughed, too.

We kept chatting throughout the ride and I felt her relax a little next to me, opening up more and more the longer we drove. She still seemed nervous though, fiddling with the watch around her wrist or twisting strands of her hair.

“So.. Are we actually gonna go somewhere or just drive around?” Coco asked after a while and I chuckled, taking my time before answering her question.

“We’re going somewhere. Unless you want me to keep driving.”

She grinned. “Going somewhere sounds good. Now where exactly did you say we were going again?”

I smirked away. “I didn’t say anything. And I’m not going to either.” A quick look at her showed me that she had her arms crossed in front of her chest, pouting away as I spoke. It only made me grin wider. “It’ll be a surprise.” I saw the corners of her lips twist into a smile but she refused to look at me. “Cut the act already.” I teased her. “I know you’re excited.”

Coco unwillingly smiled, biting her lips and looking out her window. She just couldn’t hide her amusement. “Jeez, you Irish people have a way..” She hissed making me laugh.

Another ten minutes later I pulled up into the parking lot and Coco looked out the window with big eyes. I shut off the car, climbed out of it and waited patiently for her for her to do the same. She seemed a little caught off guard and still stared at the large building.

“Is this.. an aquarium?” She asked as we slowly walked towards the entrance.

“No, it’s a movie theater called ‘Oceanworld’.” I said ironically and she rolled her eyes at me, shoving her elbow playfully in my side. I laughed at her weak attempt of hurting me and she couldn’t hide a grin herself either.

“Aren’t you funny, Mr. Horan.” She said through clenched teethes as we reached the main entrance and I held the door open for her.

“Why yes I am, Miss..”

“Hovey.” She finished for me, figuring that I didn’t know her last name.

“Well, alright Miss Hovey then. Why don’t you wait here for a moment, while I go get our tickets?” I said pointing at the ticket counter behind me. Coco nodded and smiled a little. I smirked at her one last time before turning around and walking across the room quickly.

When I returned Coco had wandered off to one of the large walls where they had dozens of pictures of all sorts of sea animals.

“Scrollan?” I asked softly and she turned on her heel. “You wanna go find a real sea turtle?” Holding up the tickets I had just gotten and pointing at the picture of a huge turtle behind her which she had been looking at, I saw a smile spread across her face. “Yes, sure.”

We made our way past the turnstile and I handed Coco a paper map they had given me at the ticket counter. She took it and picked the turtles for us to start out with. I nodded and together we strolled down long transparent hallways surrounded by water.

“This is so amazing. Really impressive.” Coco said absentmindedly, pressing her nose against the glass and watching the fish that were swimming by in awe. Her childish amazement was adorable.

“Never seen a fish before?” I teased her, poking her side and she tore her eyes from a turtle wandering by just to frown at me.

“Yeah, I have.” She said, quickly looking back into the water. I thought I had offended her, but after a while I saw her turn towards me from the corner of my eyes. I kept staring at some coral as Coco kept looking at me from the side.

“Niall?” She asked and I turned.

“Yeah?”

“I.. This was a really nice surprise. It’s lovely. Thank you.”

I laughed. “Well, I’m glad you like it. Though this isn’t even the best part yet.”

She furrowed her eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“There’s another surprise.”

Scrollan’s POV:

Another surprise? Had I heard right? He had already taken me to this beautiful aquarium, which probably wasn’t cheap but now he said there was more to come? Was he taking me somewhere else? Maybe out to eat. Or to his place. I could imagine what kind of surprise that would be.

I chuckled to myself at the thought and then wanted to slap myself for even thinking that. Niall looked at me in surprise. “What are you giggling about?” I shook my head and motioned for him to let it go, and he did. Thank God. I shook my head again, still smirking a little but then decided that Niall wasn’t like that.

Which honestly surprised me a little. After he had asked me out I figured he had some sort of interest in me – which I know realize was probably pretty conceited. But ever since he had picked me up he had – still to my surprise – made no move whatsoever. No cheeky comments, no holding hands, not even some sort of suggestive touches. At first I had thought that maybe this was an Irish thing, but then I remembered that he had moved to London so I figured he should know how to go on a proper date by now. And that’s when I came to realize that Niall was either super shy or he just wanted to be friends. Neither ideas seemed very appealing to me, but I decided to push worrying thoughts to the back of my mind and just enjoy the ‘date’ (if it still was one) for now.

Niall wouldn’t tell me what the other surprise was. “Please, Niall. Tell me. Please.” I begged tugging on his arm but he just laughed and shook his head. “Scrollan, it’s no surprise if I tell you.” “Hmpf.” I muttered and let go of him. He grinned.

We walked around the aquarium for another two hours before reaching the ‘largest fish tank in all Great Britain’ as the brochure read. We stood on some sort of gallery lingering over the water and watching the fish underneath us. It was absolutely amazing and I found it hard to look anywhere but at the colorful movements right below my feet. If I had sat and reached down I probably could have touched the water.

“Look, this says the water holds more than twohundret different species of fish.” Niall said pointing at the brochure in his hands. “Really?” I moved a little closer to him and our shoulders were touching as I read through the paper he was still holding.

“Awh, that’s cool.” I said as I kept reading. “Look, it says you can even swim with the fish here when you call in advance. Wouldn’t that be so cool?”

Niall smirked at me. “It says that, huh?”

“Yeah. I think I need to come back sometime to do that.”

“Hmm, I don’t think so.”

“Ni? Huh, what do you mean?”

Twenty minutes later I was dressed in a wetsuit, next to Niall. “I still can’t believe you did this.” I said as we waited for one of the zoo keepers. “This is so - I just - Niall, I -” I couldn’t think straight, let alone form complete sentences. My brain couldn’t compensate the fact that Niall had arranged for us to swim with the fish. Coolest thing ever. And greatest first date ever for sure.

“It’s alright, Coco. Calm down, I thought you were excited.” Niall said, petting my arm and mistaking my excitement for fear.

“No I am. So very excited. This is just so amazing. Thank you.”

“You’ve said ‘thank you’ like ten times already. It’s okay now.” He said smirking down at me and I nervously fiddled with my own hands. “Sorry.” I muttered quietly and Niall frowned. “Don’t apologize.”

Our conversation was interrupted by a zoo keeper entering the little room by the fish tank we had been waiting in. He checked our wetsuits and then gave us a few instructions on how to behave around the fish. He also showed us how to use the breathing mask and where it would be located in the tank.

“Okay, I guess we’re good to go then.” We walked over to the edge of the tank and the zoo keeper pointed at a little latter which lead into the water. “One at a time. Frog Princess first, popstar next and me last. Let’s go!”

I laughed at his words and Niall grinned widely as he pushed me a little closer towards the latter. “Let’s go, princess.” I rolled my eyes but put my foot on the first step of the latter. “Okay, popstar.” I said ironically and then climbed even deeper into the water, not missing the unsure look in Niall’s eyes.

The water was rather cold, but the wetsuit helped keeping my body warm. It took me some time to get used to the breathing mask and the frequency in which I had to return to it. The longer I was under water the longer I managed to hold my breath and the further I manged to swim. The zoo keeper had trouble keeping up with Niall and me, the bottle of oxygen for the breathing mask on his back.

I could barely contain my excitement about everything and found it devastating not to be able to talk under water. I tried showing Niall all the things I thought of as amazing but I’m almost positive he wasn’t able to keep up with the rapid pace in which I was pointing through the tank. But he was also the one to hold me back every now and then and pull me towards the breathing mask again, whenever I was getting short on oxygen. His grip around my hips was firm every time he pulled me in to his side and then let the mask linger over my lips. I grinned at him as I let the used air escape my lungs and then breathed in the fresh one. He did so himself, blowing the air bubbles into my face causing me to giggle uncontrollably and reach out for the air mask right away again. The grin on his face was content and as soon as I had calmed down a little from my giggling-attack he – much to my regret - let go of my hips.

A little later the zoo keeper motioned for us to follow him. Niall gave me a love tap and I grabbed his hand to pull him with me. After all if he was just being this shy I would have to make the first move. Though Niall did not seem to understand that because he let go of my hand as soon as he caught up with me and the zoo keeper, leaving me a little crestfallen. I didn’t have much time to ponder with my feelings though because the zoo keeper caught my attention.

He had gotten out some fish food and dozens of brightly colored little fish started gathering around his hand. My eyes grew wide in awe and even wider when he handed me some of the food as well and some more fish came approaching us, gathering around my own hands. It looked so lovely. The zoo keeper motioned for me to reach out for the fish with my free hand and he showed me how I could actually touch and pet the fish that were too occupied with the food to even bother. My jaw dropped open when I felt the fish’ scale underneath my fingers. As I took in the tingling feeling from my hands Niall put the breathing mask in front of my mouth and just now I realized I had been holding my breath for quite some time. I got some fresh air quickly and glanced at Niall thankfully before moving my hand the fish were still swarming around closer towards him so he could touch them as well. We grinned at each other as the fish slowly started to disappear as all the food was gone. Some last few fish were still swimming up and down in front of the zoo keeper, eagerly waiting for more food. But there wasn’t more to come and the zoo keeper snapped a quick picture of Niall and me with an under-water-camera and then way too soon motioned for us to follow him towards the little latter at the top of the tank again.

Niall pushed me forward a little again and I was the first the climb out of the water. I stood close to the latter and soon after I had gotten out I saw Niall’s blond hair appear above the water as he climbed out as well. As soon as he had gotten only halfway out of the water I reached out for him and pulled him close to my chest, making him stumble out of the water kind of awkwardly.

“Thank you so much, Nialler. This is like the best day of my life.” I said, my head resting against his chest as he steadied himself underneath my hug and lightly draped his arms around my hips.

“Uh, you’re welcome. I guess. Glad you liked it.” He said, his voice a little hoarse.


	10. Chapter 10

Lina’s POV:

I was sitting in Coco’s room and waited for her to return from her date. Her hot date. I chuckled at the thought and still couldn’t believe that she went out with Niall Horan. Freaking Niall Horan from One Direction. Of course he wasn’t as special to me as he might have been to other girls since I went to school with him and stuff. But I still thought it was weird that he might be dating one of my good friends now. After all he was in a boyband now and all famous and popular.

What surprised me was the fact that Coco went out with him despite knowing that he was that famous teenage-girl-heart-throb. I wasn’t sure if she knew One Direction, but she had said Niall had told her about his work for the X-Factor so she surely knew.

I looked at the clock yet again and saw that barely three minutes passed since the last time I checked. Where was she? This date was either going really good or Niall had raped her and left her in some ditch. I chuckled at the ridiculous thought of the little puppy-faced boy harming anybody. So Coco was safe with him..

I looked out the window and just in that moment Niall’s car pulled up in front of the house. My heart jumped and I pressed my nose against the glass trying to see what they were doing, trying to read their lips. It didn’t work. Oh surprise. They talked for a moment and then they got out of the car and Niall walked her to the front door, both of them laughing. I had to press my face tightly against the glass to be able to see what they were doing now because they were standing almost directly underneath me. Dear Lord, please don’t let the neighbors see this.

Niall said a few more words before pulling Coco into a quick hug and then stepped back from the door. I saw her pointing towards the door, probably asking him if he wanted to come, but he shrugged it off laughing again and pointing towards the car, saying a few words. He waved goodbye as he got in the car and as he drove off I heard the door being opened downstairs.

“Coco!” I yelled, stretching the word. She chuckled and walked into the room a moment later, grinning widely.

“You’re still here.” She stated as she sat down her purse and let herself flop onto the bed. I just grinned back at her pulling up my eyebrows. “Tell me already. How was it?”

“Ah, alright.”

I pulled my eyebrows up even higher if that was even possible.

“Okay, it was great.” She admitted, making me laugh.

“Well, what did you do?”

“Uh, he took me to an aquarium. Which I thought was a little weird at first, but it was actually really, really cool.”

“And he threw you into the water or why is your hair all wet?” I asked touching her hair and noticing that her makeup was a little messed up. She laughed.

“No, well kinda.” My eyes grew wide. He wouldn’t have.. “We did go swimming. With the fish.”

“Swimming with the fish?” This was surprising.

“Yeah, it was so amazing. We got to feed them and touch them and just play and swim with them. It was really really cool.” Coco’s eyes were glowing and she seemed genuinely excited. Swimming with fish did sound nice, though it sure wasn’t a common thing to do on first dates. But then again what did I know about first dates with famous boyband members?

“Well then, sounds like you two had a lot of fun. Are you going to see him again?”

Coco rolled on her back, shrugging a little before answering my question. “I don’t know really. I don’t think we’re.. on the same page.”

“What do you mean? You seemed to get along very well.” She cocked her eyebrows at me with a questioning look in her eyes. “I was creeping through the windows.” I explained and she laughed.

“Oh, yeah. He’s a nice guy. But well.. I just don’t think he likes me like that, you know?”

“But you do?”

“That’s not what I’m saying. All I mean is that he didn’t make a move on me. At all. I even tried giving him good opportunities, but he just.. I don’t know.”

“Hmm, that’s weird. Maybe he’s just shy.” I suggested, not really believing it myself. Shy guys in a boyband? Not very likely.

“I think he just wants to be friends. But whatever. I’m gonna go hop in the shower real quick. Get rid of that weird wetsuit smell.” Coco said making a face and getting up. As she gathered her things and went to the bathroom and grabbed the laptop from her desk and opened it. The page I had left open before closing it earlier today popped back up on the screen. Twitter.

I refreshed the page and a certain tweet caught my attention. I wasn’t much of a One Direction fan, but I had started following Liam after I had met him in the bar and right now he tweeted about doing a TwitCam. I had seen those from other celebrities before and always liked them a lot.

As I opened the link I hit the record-button to be able to rewatch it later. Liam’s blabbering would probably give me a good laugh.

Liam’s POV:

I was scanning through the tweets pooping up on the side of the screen and tried to greet all the names and countries that were asking for shout-outs. Answering a few questions fans were asking I glanced at the clock and wondered where Niall was. He texted me earlier saying he wouldn’t be getting home too late. Well, so much for that. But I didn’t care too much, enjoying the TwitCam I was doing. Tons of people asked about my stay in Ireland.

“Uh yeah, as some of you might now I’m in Ireland right now, with Niall. So yeah, we’re just chilling out mainly. Nothing special..” I read through the comments asking about what we were doing, a lot of them also referring to Niam, but I tried to ignore it. “Niall’s not home right now.” I said referring to the people asking for Niall to come join me. Immediately people asked where he was. “He’s been out. On a date actually.” I said nonchalantly but of course people were freaking out. Oh, shit was about to go down.

I smiled at the countless tweets rushing through the sidebar now and wondered what Niall would be saying if he knew what I had just told the fans. And my question was to answered soon, because just in that moment I heard Niall enter the house, calling my name.

“Up in my room.” I yelled back and the turned to face the laptop again. “Speak of the devil, Niall just got home.” I shifted a little sitting in a way that Niall wouldn’t be able to see the screen when he entered. “Okay, you people need to calm down.” I said chuckling to the fans as I could barely read their comments which were still rushing down the side. “I’m gonna ask him about it.” I said leaning back a little and only glimpsing at the screen as Niall entered the room.

“How’d your date go?” I asked casually and before he could say another word a wide grin spread on his face.

“Good.” Niall smirked and I glanced down at the laptop. Twitter was exploding. “What are you doing?” He asked walking towards the bed.

“Nothing.” I said a little too quickly and Niall sat down next to me, glancing at the screen. As he recognized the familiar screen for the TwitCam his eyes grew wide and he jumped up, glaring at me.

“What the fuck at you doing?” He asked through clenched teethes and I had to force a serious look onto my face.

“Just doing a TwitCam.” I said calmly but Niall seemed to be freaking out already.

“You can’t just do a TwitCam.” He whispered loud enough for me to hear, but probably not for the people watching. “She doesn’t know. And if she finds out like this, I’m gonna.. Gosh Liam!” He said the last two words out loud before storming off and almost tripping as he jolted down the stairs.

I started laughing and then looked back down at the laptop where the comments had slowed down a little and people kept asking what happened and where Niall had gone and many more things.

“I think I made him mad.” I said feeling a little guilty but still not able to wipe the grin off my face. “I better go check on him. Sorry, I was only on for this short, but it was lovely talking to you all. Have a great day, bye.”

Niall’s POV:

“Hey.” Liam poked his head through the doorway and looked at me standing in the kitchen. His voice was soft and he seemed nervous. I looked up at him but didn’t say anything. “Sorry.”

I rolled my eyes. His puppy-face and his soft voice and his I’m-so-sorry touch on my arm made it really hard for me to be mad at him. I brushed his hand off. “It’s alright.” I sighed and Liam grinned widely.

“Good. Well then, now tell me how it really went.”

“Did you press record on your recording device yet?” I asked bitterly and he looked a little hurt as he rolled his eyes and then just glared at me, still waiting for my answer. “Well, it went good. But it doesn’t matter, right? One date, I did it. And I think you should tweet at least two nice things about me, just to make up for telling the fans that I went on a date. Especially since it wasn’t even a date like that.”

Liam sighed. “I’m actually surprised management hasn’t called yet.”

“Yeah, me too.” I admitted. “Or any of the guys.” We laughed. And just in that moment my phone rang.

“I bet you five pounds that it’s management.” Liam said as I fiddled with the phone in my pocket.

“Five on Louis.” I said and pulled up the phone. Harry.

“Hey, Harry.” I said as I answered the phone. “Let me put you on speakerphone real quick, I’m with Liam.”

“Niall James Horan.” Harry hissed through the phone, his voice sounding even deeper through the speakers. “What on earth are you doing? One really can’t leave you and the heartbroken kid alone now, eh?” Liam made a face.

“Totally not my fault, believe me. Talk to Liam about that!”

“I wasn’t referring to the TwitCam, you twat.” Harry said in a way like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Liam and I looked at each other.

“Oh.” I said a little confused and waited for Harry to elaborate.

“When did you start picking up girls, Ni?” He asked. “And going on dates, wow. I’m so proud, I feel like I taught you something.”

“Harry.” I said through clenched teethes but Liam was laughing so loudly, he probably didn’t even hear it.

Scrollan’s POV:

When I got out of the shower I was feeling a lot better, finally having gotten rid of the weird smell the wetsuit had left on my skin. I wrapped a towel around my long hair and another one around my body before walking back into my room. Lina was sitting at my desk now, fiercely going through something on Twitter.

“What’s up?” I asked peering over her shoulder.

“I uh.. Need to show you something.” She said in a serious voice and then opened up a video and pressed play. The video showed Liam sitting on a bed. I laughed.

“Why do you have videos of Liam on there? Wait, this is my laptop. What did you do?”

“Just..” Lina hit pause and then went back to a certain point in the video. “Just watch.”

I starred at the screen and tried to figure out what kind of video this was and where it came from and why it was on my laptop, let alone why Lina was showing me this. The Liam on the screen was laughing a little. “Uh yeah, as some of you might now I’m in Ireland right now, with Niall. So yeah, we’re just chilling out mainly. Nothing special..” He starred back into the camera for a moment and seemed a little distraction. What was this? I hit pause again.

“Lina what is this?”

“I told you to just watch it. It’s one of their TwitCams.”

“TwitCams? What is a TwitCam?”

Her eyes grew a little wider. “You don’t know what a TwitCam is?” I shook my head. “Well, it’s like skype. And they just do it every now and then for the fans. It’s really fun usually. But I’m just showing you this because they’re talking about you.”

I felt like she was speaking Chinese. “Lina? What in Jesus’ name are you talking about? Who are they?”

“Liam and Niall. And generally One Direction.”

“What direction?”

We looked at each other both completely lost in what the other was talking about.


	11. Chapter 11

Scrollan’s POV:

„So you’re telling me I just went on a date with a guy from a freaking boyband?” Lina nodded. What was Niall thinking? How could he be doing this to me? I was ashamed out of my mind and the feeling was only overtrumped by all the anger creeping up inside of me.

It had taken Lina and me quite a while to get ourselves figured out and realized that she knew a lot more about the two – oh, or well five – boys than I did. She had given me a quick biography of their band I still couldn’t believe anything she had just said. Going through numerous pictures on Google I felt like I was about to lose it. Somebody must have cropped Niall’s head into every single picture of these. And Liam’s as well. There was just now way on earth this was real. A boyband. Just not real.

“But I thought you knew.” Lina said, still a little baffled. “You said he told you about the X-Factor and stuff.”

“Well, he said he was working for them. And just happened to leave out the little detail that apparently he’s a world-wide known and loved popstar. Jerk.” I was mad at him. Really mad. But even more I was mad at myself. How did I not see this? Signs had been more than obvious. Lina’s comments. Lindsey’s comments. Even the zookeeper had called him a popstar and I had blindly ignored it.

I wanted to slap myself. Argh.

Lina started giggling and as I glared at her she burst into laughter. “Think about it.” She said in between more laughs. “This is actually pretty funny. Just imagine how many thirteen-year-olds would have killed for having been in your position those past few hours. And you just get home and you’re like ‘Ah, it was alright.’”

Not funny.

The next morning I woke up late. For some reason my body had considered the previous day abnormally exhausting and I was still feeling sleepy when I woke after almost ten hours of sleep. My mind was wandering off a little but before I could think straight for just one second the events from the last evening came creeping into my mind. Niall. The popstar.

I frowned and rolled over in bed. I wanted to throw something. Preferably something hard. Preferably at Niall’s face. But digging my own face into the soft pillows and groaning in annoyance would have to do it for now.

I didn’t want to get up. I just wanted to fall asleep again and get some more rest. And then I wanted to wake up with something else on my mind. Some other than a boyband. Or a boy.

There was a knock on the door and I rolled onto my back a little to lift my head and see who it was. Lindsey’s head popped up in the little gap between the door and the frame.

“Hey, you’re up.” She said softly with a little smile. I smiled back. “Can I come in?”

“Sure.” I said, my voice still a little hoarse from sleeping. I scooted over a bit making room for her to sit on my bed and then snuggled back into the cushions.

“Sleep well?” She asked and I nodded. “Well now.. Lina told me about the, uh, thing with Niall.” I frowned. Of course Lina would tell her. Lina would tell anybody, she was a freaking open book. But Lindsey smiled at me with her very most aunty-ish smile and stroked over my head a little.

“You wanna know what I think?” I nodded. “I think our family needs some more good genes.. which Niall has.”

My jaw dropped and I wasn’t sure if I heard right. Lindsey chuckled at my baffled expression. “I’m sorry to put it that way, but seriously. He can sing. He’s handsome. He’s rich.”

“I really don’t think the latter is inheritable.”

“Such a shame.” She was laughing again. Her unusual good mood was kind of creepy. “But what I wanted to say actually..” She pulled up something from behind her back. “This, is their album.” I rolled my eyes as she put down the CD on my sheets. The cover looked ridiculously bonyband-ish. “We all got when it first came out. Maura, Niall’s mum, was so very proud and it kind of was exciting for all of us.” She sounded almost proud. Jeez.

“I’m really not going to listen to it.” I said pushing the CD away from me.

“Oh you should. It’s kinda good actually. You’ve probably heard their songs before anyways.” She started humming one of the tracks and I just rolled my eyes at her. I sure wasn’t going to listen to that boyband crap.

As I didn’t respond to Lindsey’s humming she just pursed her lips and looked at me for another moment before getting up. “Fine, have it your way.” She said a little pissed, not taking the CD with her though. Forcing me to resist the oh-so-sudden urge to find out what Niall’s voice would sound like when he sang.

Lina’s POV:

It was raining like crazy all day so I decided to take the car to drive the work. I rang up Coco and offered her a ride saying I’d come to pick her up at around 5 pm. We had to go to work early today, because there was another football game tonight and Dan expected a lot of people to show up. I frowned a little at the thought of having a busy night. I much rather would have spend some time chatting away with Coco. About Niall. I grinned.

A few minutes before 5 pm I pulled up in front of Coco’s aunt’s house and honked, not wanting to have to go out in the rain to get her. She seemed to understand and moments later she came sprinting towards the car, her hands held above her head and then yanking the car’s door open and jumping in.

“What shitty weather!” She exclaimed as soon as the door was shut again, carefully pulling the long strand of her already soaking wet hair. “Ugh.”

“Yeah, I know, right? We’re lucky I got the car.”

“Hmm. Thanks for the ride, by the way.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

We drove in silence for a while and I turned up the radio. The music was playing from my iPod which was on shuffle. And for some ironic reason the first song that came up was from One Direction. I grinned away, as Coco just bopped her head to the beat. Maybe she had overcome her anger towrads them.

“That’s pretty cool music.” She stated after a while and looked at me. “Who’s this?”

I started laughing. “This my friend is the boy you went on a date with yesterday.”

Coco’s face went blank and her expression was hard to read. It was somewhere between pouting and blushing and being angry. I pursed my lips, suppressing the sudden urge to burst into laughter. This was ridiculous. Even though I had gotten Coco kind of mad at me.

Two hours later I had gotten Coco really mad at me. While cleaning up, decorating and restocking the bar I had plugged in my iPod to the speakers, blasting the few One Direction songs I had on there on repeat.

Coco had shown a rage on emotions since. Mainly anger, but when Niall’s first solo came up she had dropped one of the glasses in her hands, blushing brightly. I pretended not to notice, focusing on a table I was wiping swiftly but grinning wider than ever before, as she was picking up the broken pieces. She was cracking me up.

By the time Dan went to ‘open’ the pub Coco had dropped another glass, slapped me twice – not badly, but still -, apologized a dozen times and bitten off all of her nails. Maybe I shouldn’t have put on the music. It seemed to get her a lot more nervous than I intended to. Or angry. Or confused. Or whatever the feeling was she was feeling right now.

Niall’s POV:

“Football tonight. Football tonight. Football tonight!” Liam cheered happily next to me as I pulled up two rain coats from my closet, handing him one. He had gotten strangely interested in the Irish football league the last couple of days, actually looking up some stats on the Internet and already picking a team he was routing for tonight.

“You excited, Nialler?” He asked poking my ribs.

“Sure.” I said lamely. Not for football though. More for Coco. Liam had used all his power to talk me into believing that the things said on that TwitCam (which by the way had gotten him and me more than just one angry call from management) weren’t going to reach Coco. And somehow it had worked so now we were good again, both kind of excited for the night.

It was weird a thought actually being excited to see her. All those past nights at Dan’s pub I had been working for a greater good. The bet. But now that was gone I really only went for her. Oh well, and Liam. And the football. But still..

When we got to the pub, plenty of people were there already. A good football game was still the best man-magnet there was. Liam and I made our way through the surprisingly loud crowd. Liam was starring at the larger screen where the lineups had just popped up, eying them carefully. I tugged on his sleeve pulling him towards the bar with me.

It took us some time to find two stools that weren’t occupied by beer drinking football maniacs so when we did, I pulled them closer quickly and we sat down. “Victory at last.” Liam grinned as we both pulled off the coats that were soaking wet. Bloody rain.

We sat pretty much in the middle of the bar, which gave me the best view and Liam the worst. He complained that both the large screens were hung up on either sides of the bar and he didn’t know which way to turn to watch the game. I on the other hand glanced across the bar, on the look-out for Coco. But right now there was only Lina drawing beer and trying to get everyone what they wanted.

The crowd’s routing caught my attention and I turned to follow Liam’s gaze and look at the screen. He tried to explain the stupidity in the one coaches decision to put one player in and not the other or something like that, but I didn’t quite understand nor was I interested in understanding, so I let go and so did Liam.

“Guess your pretty little head is caught up with something else. Or someone.” He stressed the last word and beamed across the bar. I followed his gaze and saw Coco who had just come out of the kitchen carrying a few bottles with her which she placed underneath the bar. Liam turned back to watch the kick-off but I kept gazing at Coco, waiting for her eyes to meet mine.

As she drew some beer she looked up at me and our eyes met, locked for a moment and I flashed her a smile. She looked lost for a moment and then starred back down onto the beer she was drawing, not granting me another look. Hmm..Weird.

Lina came past us and stopped, grinning a little, her cheeks flushed. “Beer?” She just asked and I nodded, Liam still not turning his head. As she returned with the glasses I took the opportunity to ask her about Coco.

“Lina, what is..” I nodded towards Coco who was at the other end of the bar, chatting away with some old men. “What is wrong with her?”

Lina looked a little lost, her eyes darting over to where Coco was standing, nervously biting her lip. “You should..” She stopped, fiddling with a bracelet around her wrist. “You really need to talk to her about it.” I frowned and leaned back a little, trying to understand what she meant. Talk to her? What did I do now?

Liam looked at me quickly and we both shrugged our shoulders. “Just ask her, mate.” Liam said, his eyes back on the screen. It was nice to know that even though his eyes were occupied with football, his eyes and brains were not. Yey.

I looked at Coco as she was laughing and then said a last few words to the men she had been talking to before walking off, right towards the middle of the bar where Liam and I were sitting.

“Scrollan.” I said loudly and I saw her head dart up. Slowly she turned to look at me shortly and then turned towards Lina, who was still standing in front of me.

“Lina, would you mind telling Mr. Superstar here that I’m not talking to him anymore?” My mouth fell open and so did Lina’s. Even Liam turned his head to look at her. She blushed a little.

“I uh, she’s not talking to you anymore.” Lina said quickly towards me as soon as she caught herself.

“I know, I can hear her.” I said bitterly and Liam leaned forward a little. “Why are you not talking to him?” He asked but Coco furrowed her brows even further.

“Tell them, I’m not talking to either of them.” She said and Lina repeated the sentence quickly, receiving angry glares from us. What on earth did we do now?

“Would you..” Liam turned towards Lina. “Mind asking her what exactly we did?” Lina repeated his question and then we all looked at Coco who was biting her lip nervously, making it turn white underneath her teethes.

“Well how about doing a certain TwitCam last night?” She asked, now facing us. I groaned and slapped Liam on the back of his head. “Told you! God Damnit, Liam!” He absentmindedly touched the back of his head and glared back at me, not disagreeing though.

“Or how about being in a boyband. Jeez, Niall. A boyband. What were you thinking? I just.. can’t-” She continued and now it was Liam’s turn to slap me. “Hey.” I said accusingly glaring at him. Though he lost me attention quickly when I saw Coco moving from the corner of my eyes and turned to watch her walk away, to the back of the kitchen.

Liam slapped me again. “You didn’t tell her? About the band? What is wrong with you?”

Yes, this really made me feel so much better. Thanks, Liam.


	12. Chapter 12

Scrollan’s POV:

My head hurt. And I was tired. Somehow today just wasn’t my day. Before I went to bed last night Lina had kept texting me, blaming me for treating Niall horribly. She had been so lucky we had only been texting because halfway through the conversation I felt like slapping her silly. How could she possibly side with him on this? It confused me.

I was still angry with Niall for not even bothering to tell me that he was famous and popular and all over the Internet. I had spend the day in front of the computer googling his stupid band and watching interviews of theirs. I hated the fact that they were neither annoying nor stupid and even their music sounded good. Damnit. Why did they have to be this hard to hate? Which I still did hate them, it was just getting harder the more I had read about them.

When I had returned to Dan’s pub this afternoon I was in the worst mood possible. Despite my headache and my tiredness I realized that it was Friday and Lina had her day off. Ugh. I picked up my work and started cleaning up the mess the football loving maniacs had left the night before.

“Hey, I gotta run home real quick to fetch some things. Can I trust you not to prey upon my liquor?” Dan asked with a wide grin.

“I wouldn’t if I were you.” I replied grinning just as wide.

“Well, I think I’m gonna risk it anyways. See you in a bit, bye Scrollan.” And with that he was off.

I returned to my work, a slight smile still lingering on my lips. The silent clinking of the glasses I was just rinsing rung in my ears. I was all by myself. And I didn’t particularly like the thought.

I let my eyes wander through the room and Lina’s iPod caught my attention. It was still hooked up to the stereo and I wondered why she hadn’t taken it home with her. She must have forgotten it the night before, but I was glad she did because right now it gave me the opportunity to listen to music. I dried my hands off quickly before walking over to it and unlocking it, and hitting ‘play’ right away. The music blasting through the speakers loudly was still One Direction. I was about to change it when a quicker song came on which I actually really liked. Okay, just this one song., I thought and went back to rinsing glasses.

I never changed it.

Niall’s POV:

“Wait, hold on now, Nialler. You just lost me. Do like her now, or do you not?” I sighed a little and pressed my lips together. Zayn just had to ask that question. Ugh. We were on the phone, talking about nothing important and then just had to bring up Coco. I told him about the bet and the date, the TwitCam (which he had seen though, of course) and the previous night. But apparently things were confusing when put into a few sentences.

“Zayn. I told you, I only asked her out for the bet.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“Zayn.” I groaned, trying to ignore his chuckle. He could be such a pain in the ass.

“No, but seriously. If you didn’t like her why would you even care about her ignoring you? And being mad at you and stuff. I mean if you really didn’t care..-”

Damnit. He had a point. “I really don’t like her.. that way.”

“Then why did you call and ask how to make it up to her?”

“I never even called! You called me, you twat.”

“Well, but you asked. And you’re a twat yourself for not admitting that you like her.” I knew he was grinning widely on the other side of the phone line. But this was leading nowhere. Apparently Zayn had decided to side with Liam who had probably already called him up to talk about Coco. Just as Liam had called Harry and Louis.

Sometimes I really hated this band. We were like brothers which could be nice. But at times I just wanted all my brothers dead; at least the ones from the band. Just to regain some privacy.

“Zayn.” I pleaded, trying not to sound too annoyed, knowing he only wanted the best for me. They all did. But sometimes they just didn’t know what that was. Though at this moment I didn’t even know myself.

“Okay, listen Niall.” Zayn said quickly before I could say another word. “Doesn’t matter if you like her or not. All I’m saying is that just in case you like her.. in one or the other way, you need to apologize. Ring her up or something. Just say you’re sorry and you didn’t mean to hurt her and that kind of stuff. Girls like to hear that, believe me.”

I sighed. “Yeah. Thanks, I guess. I’ll think about it.”

“Really, mate. No worries.”

“Ah, I’m not worried.”

“Of course not.” I heard him smirk through the phone. Literally. All that sarcasm.

“Zayn, I should go before I say some really nasty things to the really annoying beast you’re being today.”

“I love you too, Nialler. But alright. Call me, when you talked to her.”

“Hmm. Bye.”

“Bye!”

I called Coco but she never picked up. It was frustrating and I was thinking about just running by her aunt’s and uncle’s house to see if she was busy. But being the coward I was I decided to pick the easy(er) way out and called Lina instead.

“Hello?” She asked as she picked up. I had found her number in my phone from back when we went to school together. Didn’t surprise me that she didn’t safe my number.

“Uh, hey Lina. This is Niall.”

“Oh.. hi.”

Wow, this was an awkward silence.

“Listen , Lina. What I was wondering.. uh. When are you going to the pub tonight?”

“I’m not actually, I have my day off and I’m in Dublin with friends.” Oh. Well, that didn’t help me out. And Lina seemed to understand so she added “But Coco should be going to the pub at around.. well, actually she should be already there. Cleaning up after the game last night.”

“Oh, okay. Thanks.”

“And Niall?” Something in her voice changed.

“Yes?”

“She.. Coco was really upset. Just don’t be a jerk again. And maybe don’t bring up the.. the band. She doesn’t particularly like it.”

“I.. Yes. Of course.”

I said goodbye ended the call quickly, distracted by my own thoughts. I had made her mad. Crap. And she didn’t even like the band. Double crap. But I reckoned that that’s what I was getting for being dumb enough for trying to play games in the first place. I still didn’t quite understand what exactly went down in my brain when I thought that she might not find out about the band if I didn’t tell her. She lived in London, for God’s sake. I was such a dumbass.

I shook off the thoughts and reminded myself that I wanted to go apologize to her. I really didn’t want her to be mad at me. And I didn’t like the thought of her not answering my calls. I wanted her to want to talk to me. But I’d have to work for that.

Twenty minutes later I found myself standing in front of Dan’s pub. I nervously tapped my foot on the ground trying to come up with a good reason not to go in. And then again I wanted to burst through the doors right now, screaming my apology at Coco.

Debating on what to do next I glanced through the windows and saw her wiping some tables and setting up chairs as she swiftly moved through the room, swaying her hips as if dancing. I stepped closer to the window, holding my breath and listening trying to recognize the music. All I heard was a deep bass though, with cars passing by every other moment.

I stepped back a little, not wanting her to see me creep through the windows but just far enough to make it look inconspicuous while I could still look at her face. Her brows were furrowed and her eyes were dark whereas her lips danced along the lyrics of the song, absentmindedly singing along.

The curiosity over the song, the worried look on her face and her in general made my feet shuffle towards the entrance. My brain set out this one and just watched interestedly as I twisted the doorknob and carefully stuck my head through the gap.

Niall’s POV:

The music was blasting loudly and it distracted me for a moment. I knew the song.. quite well. “She’s not afraid of scary movies. She likes the way we kiss in the dark.” Coco was moving swiftly while wiping the tables, singing along the lines, not looking up once. She was facing the bar, away from me but I knew she was singing along. She knew every single word. A smile crept upon my lips.

The song ended and I held my breath for a moment, hoping she wouldn’t turn around and notice me in the two seconds of silence before the next song started playing. After what felt like hours the music started playing again, Coco still doing her work, humming quietly. I slipped through the gap of the door and closed it behind me without a sound.

I stood still for a moment glancing at Coco who had just picked up the first few lines of the next song. “She sneaks out in the middle of the night, yeah. Tight dress with the top cut low.” My head snatched up. This was.. the same song again. Huh? She had One Direction on repeat. A pleasant shiver ran down my spine and the smile on my face grew wider.

As the song went into chorus I felt the sudden urge to sing along as well and bit my lip, not wanting her to see me standing there and stop her lovely singing and dancing. But then again I thought trying to ‘keep it low and thinking she won’t realize’ didn’t work out too well the last time so I changed my mind and just went all in.

The second verse started and I picked up my lines, singing them out loud and walking towards Coco slowly. “Maybe she’s just trying to test me.” Coco spun around, dropping the sponge she had been holding in her hand. “Wanna see how hard I’m gonna work.” Her mouth fell open and for a moment I was worried she might have forgotten to breath. “Wanna see if I can really tell how much she’s worth.”

I chuckled quietly into the lines as I reached her, her eyes still wide, her mouth still open. She looked surprised, scared and amused at the same time. I took her hand lifting it up and twirling her around, trying to get her to dance with me as the chorus picked up again. It took her a moment to understand where I was going with my actions and she just gaped at me while I was moving rather awkwardly to the sound of the music. When she finally came back to her senses she blinked twice before holding onto my hand then actively helping me twirl her around, making an honest effort to dance.

The awkwardness of the moment was beyond measures now and Coco knew it too, bursting into laughter while still swaying her hips around me, making me gape a little at the swift movement, not able to deny the tension building up between us. Dancing through the next verse and one last chorus she kept coming closer and looking up at me from underneath her long eyelashes. Right now I didn’t quite get the vibe that she was still mad at me. Maybe it was because she liked the music. But then again Lina said, Coco didn’t like it. Hmm..

As the song ended, Coco stepped away from me a little awkwardly, letting go of my hand and then walking across the room to turn down the volume of the song. When she turned back around she was smiling rather shyly and I couldn’t hide a smirk.

“Now tell me again how you don’t like One Direction.” I said laughing as I climbed onto one of the bar stools. Coco came to sit down across from me. Her face was a bright red and she tried hiding it behind her hair.

“Not my music. It’s Lina’s iPod.” She muttered halfheartedly pointing at the docking station but it couldn’t wipe the smirk off my face.

“It’s on repeat. You know all the lyrics. And you found out about the band when? Like two days ago. Now don’t you lie to me, you love us, princess.” I said referring to the nickname the zookeeper had given to her when we went swimming together with the fish.

A grin crept upon her lips and she glanced up at me quickly before pushing my shoulder playfully. “Don’t get too excited, popstar.”

She looked up again, tucking strands of her hair behind her ear and our eyes met for a moment. I noticed that tension again. Something prickly in the air, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. She lowered her chin a little, not breaking the eye contact and for some reason it had just gotten really hot in the room. My palms started getting sweaty but I couldn’t force my eyes off her so I just kept starring and she kept starring back. Her teethes caught my attention as they started nibbling on her lower lip, making the skin turn white underneath the pressure. I swallowed hard.

“So..?” She started out shifting a little closer towards me. Just now I realized that I had been starring at her without saying a word for a good amount of time.

“Uh..” She bit her lip again and it was frustratingly distracting. I tried to force my brain to think straight, but to my dismay it hadn’t picked up its work yet again so I was left all by myself, trying to explain the purpose for me showing up at the pub right now. “I, uh, came to apologize to you.” I said, proud of the fact that I had just created a coherent sentence, all by myself.

“Did you?” She asked with a half smile.

“Yeah, I-” I shifted back a little, leaning away from her. For some reason I felt like this gave me more room to think straight. “I felt really bad last night. For well, not telling you about the whole One Direction-thing. And Lina said your were really upset,” She cocked an eyebrow at me at the mention of her friend’s name, but I just ignored it “so I figured I’d just come by and, well, let you know.”

“Oh, okay.” Okay? And now? Did this mean we were good or did this mean she was still pissed? “I’m sorry too, actually. I guess I shouldn’t have been as pissed. I mean I do understand it’s not like the number one thing to mention on a first date..”

I nodded happily. “And I totally would have told you on the second date, I swear.” We laughed at my words and as we did she leaned a little closer again, playing with a strand of her hair. She twisted it around her finger, cocking her eyebrows again.

“A second date, you say?”

“Well..” I stretched the word trying to come up with something to say as I spoke. She looked at me, expecting an answer as I was still struggling for words. “Yes I.. No- I mean, yes. I guess. If you want there to be. I don’t know.”

Coco laughed. “You’re really self-conscious, aren’t you?” I blushed. Not what I was going for. Though she was right of course. Fortunately she laughed it off, brushing me lightly before leaning in even more and silently saying “It’s okay, I knew that. I did my homework, you know?”

“Homework?”

“Wikipedia.” She admitted and my eyes grew wider. I groaned. She read about me – or the band – online. “Research.” She added, as I didn’t speak.

“Great, now I feel like a science project.” I said laughing but she just gave me a smirk. “Maybe you are, Niall. It’d be titled ‘A clumsy Irish in its natural habit’.” Now she was the one to laugh and I blushed even more, running m hand through my hair nervously.

What was going on here? What was she doing to me? Why was I behaving like a complete idiot, blushing every five seconds like a fourteen-year-old on their very first date? It was ridiculous. I needed room. And air to breath. Something to clear my mind. Discuss further steps. Especially now that she was leaning in to me this close, making it hard for me not to bump my head into hers.

I coughed a little awkwardly and she looked up in surprise, leaning back as I slit down the bar stool and stepped away a few feet from her, regaining my personal space. “I think, I should go.” I said and she looked taken aback. “I’ll see you later?”

She didn’t answer my question and just started fiddling with her hair again. When I caught a glimpse at her eyes I realized there was something else in them. Not just surprise, but remorse and embarrassment.

“Uh.. are you okay?” I asked not knowing where those emotions came from, what caused them or what they meant.

Coco took another moment to stare at her feet and then lifted her head, an almost convincing smile plastered on her face. “You said, you thought, you should go?”

Was she kicking me out? She was. Damnit. What did I do wrong now? Would I ever be doing something right with this girl?

Coco got up as well and walked around the bar to stand behind the counter, grabbing random items and moving them around. It didn’t make sense to me, but apparently she was arranging the things for later tonight.

“I.. Thanks for the, uh, dance.” I said vaguely motioning towards the middle of the room where we had been dancing and laughing just a moment before. A moment before I managed to fuck up again. “See you.”

“Bye.” She said without looking up from her work. I hesitated another moment, standing by the bar in awkward silence, waiting for her to say something else. Thinking about something else to say myself. But there was nothing in my head right now. That was until my brain kicked back in and told be to get out of this situation ASAP. Before I could make it even worse. Even though I thought I had already fucked it up big time I wasn’t taking chances.


	13. Chapter 13

Scrollan’s POV:

I was at the pub again. I was wiping the tables, dancing and singing along to the music. Another song was playing though. “So tell me girl if every time we tou-u-uch, you get this kinda ru-u-ush.” My lips moved along the lines of the song even though I barely knew it. And even though I knew what was about to happen I jumped a little when I suddenly heard Niall’s voice from behind me. “Oh I just wanna show you off to all of my friends.” He slowly came approaching me and I just stood and watched him in awe. Something about him singing was incredibly sexy. “Makin’ them drool down their chiney chin chins.” Niall had almost reached me and held out his hand for me to take. I remembered dancing with him and took his hand right way, trying to lift it up to twirl around. But he took me by surprise and pulled me closer towards him, making our chest touch. His lips were inches away from mine and I felt his hot breath on my skin as he kept singing and leaning in to me. “Baby be mine tonight, mine tonight, baby be mine tonight, yeah.”

When I woke I was this close to killing Lindsey. I loved my aunt, I really did, but waking me from this kind of dream was forbidden under penalty of death.

“What?” I snapped as she lightly touched my shoulder, sitting on the edge of my bed.

“Hey.” She said soothingly, confused by my bad mood. “I just came to tell you that your uncle and I need to leave now. We’ll be back by tomorrow, okay?”

“Hmm.” I nodded sleepily and let her place a light kiss on my forehead before she left to go to some weekend trip thingy her and uncle Jim were going to. I had the whole house to myself. But even though it was dead silent now I couldn’t go back to sleep. I was mad, though I probably wouldn’t have been able to continue dreaming that one dream anyways.

I sighed and rolled over in bed, cuddling into my pillows. So soft.. I closed my eyes and tried to recall the dream as vividly as possible. If only it really had been like that. Though I didn’t think this was ever going to happen. My face started burning as I remembered Niall’s and I’s conversation from the night before and if I recalled correctly I had made a complete fool of myself. He was such a tease.

Niall had come, looking all sexy and singing and dancing and I was sure Lina had told him that I’m such a sucker for that kind of stuff. He couldn’t just be doing that himself; that would make him.. perfect.

I sighed again and let my left arm rest across my face, hiding my eyes and trying to black out all the problems this young Irish lad had brought with him. Not only had he made me look like an idiot when finding out about his band but now he had even started teasing me like crazy, making me fall for him over and over again and then he’d pull back in just the right moment. I felt so stupid.

After another twenty minutes of letting the boy’s name wander through my brain way too much I decided to get up, trying to get my mind set on something else. Though of course that didn’t work too well and as soon as I was in the shower and the hot water was streaming down my body my thoughts were tangled up with the blond boy again. How much I’d love to let my fingers run through his strands, pulling them fiercely. Or get stuck in those braces of his; let my tongue run past them. Hear him say my name. My full name as only he did it. Argh.

I turned the water on cold, trying to freeze some sense into my brain. Shaking I stood underneath the stream of water, which might as well have been a load of ice cubes trying to get my mind off Niall. Off anything sexual involving those lusciously pink lips. Didn’t work.

Still shaking and panting a little now from all the cold surrounding me, I got out of the shower and my slightly trembling hands grabbed a towel quickly, wrapping it around me. I dried my body and hair off still forcing myself not to think about Niall. I needed to understand any wishful thinking I might have towards him was in vain. He obviously didn’t like me in any romantic or sexual way so I’d just have to let go of it. Which would be fine, really. It was not like he was that great after all. Maybe it was just coming all together with the general sexually frustrating phase I was going trough right now.

Liam’s POV:

Maura was in the kitchen preparing breakfast when I came stumbling down the stairs. The smell of eggs and bacon had made me crawl out of bed and now I was more than excited to see that breakfast was almost done. Maura smiled.

“Good morning, luv. Had a good night of sleep?” Her Irish was even worse than Niall’s and it still sounded a little weird to me after all this time.

“Yes, thank you.” I smiled back at her as I grabbed a chair and pulled it up to the table in the kitchen. She started loading my plate with food and then set it down in front of me.

“Will that be enough for you?”

“Yes, of course. I don’t have quite metabolism like your son.” She laughed loudly, petting my head lightly and then turning around again to fix Niall a plate as well. Just as she was about to leave the kitchen to call him, the young blond boy stumbled into the kitchen himself.

“Morning.” He muttered sleepily and let himself fall down onto a chair next to me. Maura walked around to him and set down the plate in front of him, saying a few words a then pressing a quick kiss onto the top of his head. Niall glanced up at me and then rolled his eyes at his mom. I chuckled.

“I’m afraid I’m gonna have to leave you, boys.” Maura said letting her fingers intertwine with one another. “There’s more coffee and tea over here, and we have juice in the fridge.”

“Mum, I live here.” Niall growled at her.

“Well, sweety you’re never home. But you’re right, you two can take care of yourself. Have a good day.” She touched both of our arms lightly and we mumbled our ‘see you’s and ‘love you’s as she left. We heard the door click shut and after that silence was clinging in my ears. Niall glanced at me while stuffing more scrambled eggs in his mouth.

“So.. what about my plan now?” I asked and he almost chocked on the food in his mouth as he started coughing. I lightly tapped him on the back, making a half effort trying not to let him choke. But I couldn’t help the grin that spread on my face as I remembered what had happened the night before.

I had gotten home late. I had been out of Mullingar, doing some shopping to bring home some gifts for my sisters. They loved it every time I brought home little random things I got when traveling. Obviously Ireland wasn’t quite as special as some foreign Asian country, but they appreciated it anyways.

When I got home that night I was surprised to find that Niall was gone. He hadn’t mentioned any plans for the day so I decided to text him asking where he was and what he was doing. The reply I got surprised me.

Went for a run. Will be back soon. We need to talk. - Ni

I cocked my eyebrows as I set down the little shopping bags I had been carrying and flopped down onto my bed. Niall went for a run? That was weird. He never ran. He hated running. I furrowed my brows as I thought about what might have made him change his mind. Maybe he had gained a pound and was now worrying about his astral body. I chuckled at the thought. Not very likely. Maybe he needed to get his mind off things. That was usually the reason I ran for. Some time to think, go through some stuff and then make up my mind. Or maybe he was lying to me and didn’t actually run but was snogging at the pub with Coco. I chuckled again, stopping only when I remembered how mad she had been the night before when we went to talk to her. He was probably pissed off, just as she was. Too bad., I thought. They would have made a cute couple.

Minutes later as I was still laying on my bed, the door to my room was bust open and a sweaty and incredibly wide grinning Niall stood in front of me.

“Hey.” I said a little surprised as he stood still in the door way.

“I want her.” He said, still panting from his run and maybe from sprinting up the stairs to my room.

“Do what?” I asked a little confused. What was he talking about? Who was he talking about?

“I want her. Coco.” He said taking deep breaths, slowly walking a little closer towards my bed. “You have to help me. To make her like me.”

He flopped onto the bed next to me, looking at me with wide eyes, grinning a little. But the happy expression on his face faded away a little as I didn’t react right away. I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time.

“What on earth did you do Niall? I leave you for one day and you go head over heels for her?”

“Yeah.” He shrugged, still grinning away and then he told me the whole story. How they had danced and talked in the bar and how during his little run he had made the decision that he wanted to see her again. Like date-ish see her again.

And I had come up with a plan.

Sitting at the kitchen table together now Niall was shaking his head forcefully. I laughed as he was still coughing but trying to swallow his food and talk at the same time.

“No, Liam, I-” He chocked on a piece of food and I laughed again.

“Call down, Nialler. Eat. Swallow. Breath. I’m not gonna jump up and run away.” I soothingly rubbed his back a little as he took a sip of water and cleared his throat, slowly calming down.

“I uh.. Actually thought we might not be doing the plan. You know?”

“No. I don’t. I thought you wanted her to like you..”

“Yeah, I, uh, do. But well.. I don’t think she likes me. And I don’t want it to get all awkward and stuff. You’re really not the most subtle person I know.”

“Well, but you two already went on a date. So she already thinks you like her anyways. All you need to do is ask her out a second time and then seal the deal. Boom, that’s how easy it is.”

“Hmm, okay. If you say so, Li.”

If I say so. That’s right.

Niall’s POV:

I was nervous. Liam made me nervous. Actually Coco made me nervous. It was a lot to handle. After Liam and I had finished our breakfast I went upstairs to my room again to get out my running shoes. I pulled up some sweatpants and an old shirt and put them on quickly. Still tying my shoelaces I heard Liam stroll by my room.

“Hey, Liam!” I called him back, jumping up quickly and making my way over to the door. He stood in the hallway when I reached it and he glanced up and and down my quickly.

“Going for another run?”

“Yes, actually. Just wanted to let you know. I’ll be back in like an hour or so.”

“Hmm, okay. Have fun.”

He glanced at me again, looking a little worried but I didn’t care. I made my way down the stairs quickly and pulled the door shut behind me as I slowly started running down the street in front of my house. My bad knee hurt a little every time I bent it, but the relaxed feeling the physical activity of running put through my body was worth the pain. And also Liam had been right; running gave me some great time to think through stuff.

I ran slowly, not trying to work out really. I was much more simply enjoying the beautiful day, a beautiful girl on my mind. The thought gave me chills. I didn’t know what was wrong with me all the sudden but the thought of Coco made me happier than it should have. Especially since I considered my chances with her pretty low. After all she was a ‘princess’. I rationally understood that there was basically no future for anything between her and me, but somehow my brain couldn’t quite compensate this information. And of course this would have to cause some sort of heartbreak sooner or later.

Later that day Liam had – once again – convinced me into trusting him with his plan and going to Dan’s pub with him. And again I rationally knew this had to end badly and that Liam was the worst matchmaker there was, but for some reason I went along with it, grinning wider than physically possible.

“Do you think she’s going to be mad after yesterday?” I asked as we walked the way to the pub. Liam shrugged and looked at me.

“I don’t know. Why should she?”

“Well she kinda, sorta kicked me out.” I responded, shoving my hands into my pockets and glancing at him with a questioning look in my eyes.

“Naah. You just think that. It’ll be fine. You apologized. She should be happy now.”

“Okay, if you say so, Li.”

Liam just always knew how to deal with things. Right in that moment I was glad to have him with me. Glad that he was going to help me out with this.

About twenty minutes later I was already pissed at him, regretting the decision of even letting him go with me. Or telling him about talking to Coco the day before. Or even meeting him at all. He could be so indelicate.

I rolled my eyes at him, praying to God that Coco would just ignore him. She looked a little taken aback and then walked off without a word, getting our drinks. My face was bright red and burning as I turned to Liam and slapped the back of his head.

“God damnit, Liam. You can’t just ask her if she likes me as much as I like her. You’re just..- Gosh!” I hissed at him, too busy looking like a tomato to form sensible sentences. But Liam just chuckled away, slapping me back playfully.

Coco returned, set down the pints and smiled at us shyly. I smiled back getting ready to put my – or Liam’s – plan into action.

“Hey.” I said softly, as so far I hadn’t even gotten the chance to talk to her with Liam asking all his awkward questions. She smiled a little wider but before she could open her mouth to say something Liam interfered again.

“Hey!” He said happily, grinning at me from the side.

“Liam.” I said calmly, but glaring at him making sure he understood that I wasn’t kidding. “Go to the bathroom, will you?” He mumbled a few annoyed words under his breath but slid down his bar stool eventually, walking off and leaving me back with Coco who was still leaning against the bar from the other side of it.

“Hi.” She replied as I turned back to face her and her words made me smile.

“I’m really sorry about Liam. He’s.. a little weird today.”

“Sure.” She smiled away, letting her fingers play with the strand of her hair again. Hmm, I wished those fingers were mine. I’d love to let them run through her hair.

I realized I was starring at her again and her lips quirked up into a smirk when I blushed yet again. “Uh,” I started, fiddling with something in the pocket of my jacket, slowly pulling it out. “I brought you this.” I handed her the picture I had just pulled out of the pocket. It was the picture we had taken when swimming with the fish. The zookeeper had emailed it to my phone and I had printed it out for her. “Princess.” I added, making her smile widely.

Coco took the picture and as she looked at it her eyes grew a little wider and so did her smile. “Awh.” She said quietly, grinning at the picture and probably the memory of our colorful underwater experience. I started grinning myself when I remembered her excitement about it. Too adorable.

“Thanks.” Her words were accompanied with an incredibly beautiful smile which made my heart melt away just from looking at it. I was grinning back at her like an idiot when Lina came strolling past Coco, snatching the picture out of her hands.

“What are you looking at?” She asked as she twirled around and leaned next to Coco, holding the picture in her own hands now and looking at it for a moment.

“It’s from the swimming. I told you about it, remember?” Coco said looking over at her. Lina nodded, still looking at the picture. “Oh, yeah I remember. From, uhm, what did you call it? ‘The greatest date ever’? Yeah, I think that was it.”

Coco’s face turned into a deep shade of red and she rolled her eyes at Lina, but I couldn’t help the laughter escaping my lips. Maybe I did have a chance with her after all. If she had liked the first date she might be giving me a second chance and let me take her out again. Though I’d have to come up with something to be better than the first date. Which was practically impossible. Maybe I could fly her out to Paris, she’d love that.

As my laugh faded away a little, Liam climbed back onto the stool next to me. “If Lina’s with you guys, I can be as well, right?” He whispered and I rolled me eyes at him playfully but nodding slightly and he grinned widely. “Okay, cool.”

Coco grabbed the picture from Lina’s hands again and looked at it herself for another moment before her eyes darted up at me. I unwillingly smiled at her as she bit her lips, trying to hide her own amusement.

“So yeah.. Thanks again.” She said waving the picture through the air a little. “It, well, really was a nice date.”

I grinned even wider, unable to speak. My face started hurting from all the smiling and grinning. Could she maybe stop making me this happy?

Lina poked her in the side, nodding her head in my direction. A quick silent conversation in between them later, Coco turned back around to face e and continued talking. “And also.. I’m sorry. For, uh, being mean.. and stuff. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. I just thought, you know, you being all famous and stuff you probably didn’t want to go out with me for, well, being me and I thought maybe it was just like a bet or something and I just.. I don’t know, didn’t feel like- Argh, I don’t know. I’m just sorry.” She ended, struggling for words a little, but as she turned to face Lina she just gave her a nod and a content smile which made her seem to relief a little.

I didn’t quite know what do say, but unfortunately Liam did and so he spoke for me. “Well, it really only was a bet, right Niall? .. I mean in the beginning.”

Scrollan’s POV:

Liam was laughing. Liam was fucking laughing. It really only was a bet, right Niall?, he had said. Only a bet. I was feeling sick. And you could probably tell from the look on my face. Lina brought up her hand right away, placing it on my back for support, glaring at the two boys in front of us.

Niall’s face had dropped as Liam had spoken and there was a gush of words flowing out of his mouth right now, but I didn’t hear them. I didn’t want to hear them. The worst of all of my fears had just become true. Not only did Niall not want to date me – which would have been fine with me, we could have been friends. But much worse, I had been a bet. A stupid bet. How could they possibly humiliate me any more?

The feelings forming at the bottom of my stomach threatened to spill out at any moment and I had to fight the tears forming in my eyes now. “Hey, hey, hey.” Lina said soothingly rubbing small circles on my back. Liam seemed a little zoned out as he started at me with glassy eyes, but Niall was fully aware of the situation. He was leaning over the bar now, reaching out for me as he blabbering on. “.. not what I said, I swear. I can explain this, Liam is just being werid. No, he’s lying. Let me explain this. Please, Coco. Scrollan. Listen to me, please. Scrollan, I just want to..” He kept talking, but my brain didn’t process the words he was saying and I just stepped back even further, getting out of his reach. I even shrugged Lina’s hand off my shoulder, feeling the need to get away from this situation.

I absentmindedly dropped the picture, excused myself quietly and Lina let me go right away, when I stumbled to the back of the bar and through the kitchen to the rear exit of the pub. I could hear Niall call my name and Lina talking to him, trying to calm him down but as the door leading to a little backyard clicked shut, all noise ceased and sudden silence was clinging in my ears. I leaned back against the brick wall, trying to calm my breath but it didn’t work and after another moment of pure silence I realized that silent tears were running down my cheeks.

I gasped, wiping them away quickly. I didn’t want to cry, not over a boy. And especially not over a boy who was a jerk like Niall. How could he possibly be doing this to me? I trusted him. I really thought he liked me – well, not in the way that I liked him, but anyways. It was frustrating. Niall was frustrating.

I felt my legs tremble a little, but forced them to still after a moment, not wanting to let myself sink to the floor. If I let myself go right now, I would really start crying. And silent tears were already bad enough in the middle of my shift. I had work to get back to.

Swallowing hard, I wiped away more tears, trying to get them to stop but for some reason they wouldn’t stop falling. My breath wouldn’t calm either and I rested my right hand on my chest trying to force my breath into calming down. It sort of worked.

I stood like this for a couple of moments until I felt like I had almost gone back to normal. I prepared myself for going back inside, picking up my work again. I’d have to face Niall. And I had to stand above it, trying to keep whatever dignity I had left. But then again, they had made me the freaking subject of a bet, so I didn’t really have any dignity left whatsoever.

I felt my eyes getting teary again, but told myself that there would be no more tears shed over the stupid Irish boy before the end of my shift today. And just as I was about to go back in, I heard a weird shifting sound from the side of the backyard. It was surrounded by three walls, and the brick wall from the pub itself and mostly held trashcans and a little shed in which Dan kept random stuff. I had been in there before to get decorating material for the football games.

But when I turned to look at the shed now, something was different. Somebody had climbed one of the walls and was standing on top of the shed. I didn’t even have time to get scared because before I could think about it, let alone react, the person standing on top had jumped down and walked across the backyard, wrapping me into a tight hug.

“Niall?” I gulped a little surprise. He held me for a moment before I realized what he was doing and then I started pushing him away. “Leave me alone.”

“No, no.” He said trying to wrap his arms around me again but I swat his hands away, pushing my back against the wall. When he saw the determination in my eyes he backed off a little, giving me room to stand casually, but I stood still my back still pressed against the wall.

“I’m, uhm, sorry.” He started out, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. “I didn’t mean to, uh, hug you or whatever..” His voice trailed off and I shook my head lightly.

“What are you doing here, Niall? You.. No, you know what? Don’t tell me. Just, go. Please. I’ve had enough of you and your shit. Just go. Go back to being the oh-so-popular boyband-star that you are. I bet there is more than enough girls throwing themselves at you, so.. don’t even bother trying to make me fall for you a second time. Because it’s not gonna work.”

“I didn’t mean to-, I just wanted-”

“Niall, please. Just don’t even try I’m not-”

“Okay, no. Scrollan. No. You at least have to give me a chance to apologize.” He spoke vigorously and I just stood there, taken by surprise. I let him talk. “Please, let me explain this to you. I never meant to hurt you, I swear. And it wasn’t my idea either. It was.. stupid Liam. He gets me into stuff like this all the time. I honestly didn’t mean this in any bad way.. and I also wouldn’t have asked if I hadn’t liked you anyways. Who knows, maybe I would have asked you out anyways, and the bet just came along conveniently forcing me not to be the coward I usually am around girls. I really, totally didn’t want you to know about this.. and I was actually going to ask you to go out again.” He added in the end as he stepped a little closer towards me.

I wanted to shoot myself in the head, but my heart was pouting like crazy already again. No, no, no. I wasn’t going to just forgive him like that. But my heart was thinking otherwise and made my face flush brightly as Niall stepped even closer. Too close now, to be casual. He reached out to grab my hands and as our fingers intertwined I was honestly worried about going into cardiac arrest.

“Okay?” he asked softly as he pulled me even closer, our bodies almost touching now. Just as it had been in my dream. And even right now, I felt like dreaming.

My heart wanted to scream it him: Yes! Yes! Yes!!, but luckily right now my brain was in charge of my mouth and I managed to choke up one single word. “No.”

He stopped abruptly, leaning back a little and I immediately regretted what I had said. Well, my heart did, my brain was kind of content and maybe even proud.

“No?” Niall repeated my words, looking down a me, making me melt away. After we had starred at each other for a moment I realized that he had meant his No as a question and that I was meant to explain.

“Uhm..” I couldn’t quite tell him, why we weren’t simply okay. I couldn’t just say that he had lost my trust and that he had broken all my rules. That I was so incredibly pissed at him, and disappointed and mad. And that I wanted nothing more than for him to push me up against the brick wall right now and kiss away any worries I had. I just couldn’t. And that’s why I said the probably most stupidest thing I could have said. “Friends?”

His face dropped and even though he caught himself soon enough I saw something like disappointment rush through him. Oh, crap.

“Sure.” He said softly, letting go of my hands and stepping away even further. “So, I guess what I would have liked to call a ‘second date’ is now going to be ‘hanging out’?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” I heard my mouth say and my heart was now seriously pissed at my brain for even making this decision. This would have been my chance to say that I actually did want a second date. But no, I had to just throw this chance away! Brain, I hate you., my heart said.


	14. Chapter 14

Lina’s POV:

I glanced around, a little confused for a moment. Picking up the picture Coco had dropped I set it down behind the bar thinking she might want to get it back int the end. Maybe..

“Where did he go?” I asked after a moment of being deep in thought when I realized that right now only Liam was sitting across from me.

“Probably trying to find a way to get to the back of the pub.” He said shrugging and lamely motioning toward the door through which Niall had left just a moment ago. I shook my head, still angry with him and with Liam as well. How they possibly be playing such games with Coco? I felt so bad.

“Sorry for all the, uh.. trouble we’re causing.” Liam said lamely after a moment. I cocked an eyebrow at him.

“Trouble your causing? How about you two stop being dicks and playing around with her heart?” He had me angry. Coco’s sadness had me angry. At the moment I was torn between going to sooth Coco or going to find Niall and smack his face real good. But I had to stay of course. If Coco already decided to skip out I at least had to stay to hand drinks over the bar.

Liam glared at me. “You don’t really think we’re such idiots, right?”

“You just said you were.”

“Well, no. You totally got that wrong. Which Niall has tried to explain for like the past five minutes.”

“You said it was a bet. How could we possibly get that wrong?”

We were glaring at each other, both mad at what the other was saying. I really didn’t think there was a way for Liam to talk himself out of this and I really didn’t want to give him the chance either, but I was curious. He sighed and rolled his eyes at me before he spoke.

“Well, when I came here and met Coco I thought her and Niall would be cute. So I told Niall to ask her out. And he’s like super shy and never would have just asked her.. so I just needed something to push him a little bit. And the bet came along perfectly. I wouldn’t have made him bet if I hadn’t thought that he’d be genuinely interested in her. He really likes her.”

“Does he now?” I asked bitterly, still not wanting to give in. What Liam said made sense in a way but it couldn’t be just that easy, could it?

Liam started laughing, letting his fingers dance around the pint. “Yeah, he does. And he better be telling her right now, because the more fucked up the situation gets the harder it’ll be for me to make up plans for them to get together.”

His words made me listen up. This was interesting. So Niall was really into Coco. I could work with that kind of information. Though Coco had said she thought he just wanted to be friends. Things were confusing with those two.

I sighed and Liam looked up at me. “They’re complicated, the two, aren’t they?” He asked and I laughed. “Yes, they are.” “So, Coco likes him too, huh?” “Hmm.” I replied slightly nodding, not feeling too well about giving away her secret. Not-so-secret secret., I thought.

“Well, if he’s not being too big of an idiot he’s making his move now.” Liam said, a wide grin on his face. I laughed. “Yeah, well, if she’s not too big of an idiot she lets him.” We were both laughing. Though we wouldn’t have been if only we knew how big of idiots our friends really were..

Liam’s POV:

Coco hadn’t returned to pick up her work again when I got a text from Niall.

Meet me outside. We’re going home.

It confused me, but I refused asking questions right away and just called for Lina to let me pay. I handed her the money, saying that Niall and I were leaving. She wiggled her eyebrow at me and glanced back into the kitchen probably looking for Coco. But I didn’t have quite the good feeling. Niall’s text had sounded.. not as convinced.

I grabbed my stuff, waved at Lina one last time with a slight smile and then made my way outside the pub. Niall was leaning against the wall, his hood pulled up and deep down into his face, hiding his features from the light coming from a nearby street lamp.

“Niall?” I asked as I walked a little closer towards him and his head darted up at the sound of his name. He looked at me quickly, not saying a word before he shoved his hands deeper into his pockets and started walking off. It took me a moment to understand what was going on, before I quickly followed him. When I caught up with him I glanced at his face from the side and even though it was still hidden in the shadow from his hood I could clearly tell that his eyes were dark. Very dark. Oh, no..

“Niall?” I asked again, touching his arm lightly but he only shrugged it off, walking quicker now. “Ni, what happened? Talk to me.” I said softly as I sped up trying to keep up with his pace.

He suddenly stopped and when I noticed that he wasn’t by my side anymore I walked back a couple of steps until I stood right in front of him. I carefully pulled off his hood, moving oh-so-slowly in order not to do anything against his will. When the dim light from the street lamps started hitting his blond hair I let go of the hood and looked at him. His face looked worn out and his eyes were even darker than before. They kind of scared me.

Niall pursed his lip, avoiding looking me in the eyes and hesitating before he spoke. “Well.. I guess I have another friend now.” His voice was rough and cold.

“Friend?” I asked confused. “Niall, that’s not what we were going for.”

“You’re telling me! It’s not my fault she didn’t want to!” He raised his voice now and I glanced around, relieved to see that the street was empty.

“What do you mean ‘she didn’t want to’?” Lina had told me Coco was into Niall, so why would she be saying no?

“She said she didn’t want to go on another date. She said she wanted to be friends.”

I couldn’t quite believe that. Lina wouldn’t just lie to me, there was no point in her doing that. If Coco really didn’t like him, what would be Lina’s interest in hooking her up with Niall? I was so confused.

“Did she say those exact words? I mean.. Maybe she meant it differently. I’m sure she wouldn’t say that-”

“Liam.” Niall cut me off, sounding annoyed now. “I was holding her hands. We were standing this close.” He held his fingers in front of my face, showing me a distance of maybe half an inch. “I apologized, big time. And then asked her if we were okay. She said no. And then she said she wanted to be friends. Just like that.. She was supposed to be my princess, Li.” His voice was calmer now, sad almost. It hurt me. God damnit, girls!

“Oh.” Was all I could say for the moment. Niall looked up at me and we just starred at each other for some time, both lingering with our own thoughts. He was the first to break the eye contact and when he did, he shoved his hands back into his pockets and started walking again, slower this time. I walked next to him, still wondering about Coco.

“Sorry, mate.” I said after a moment of silence, trying to comfort him in a way.

“It’s alright.” He muttered. “Guess I knew all along that she wasn’t into me. I mean, leaving out the One Direction part, who am I? What do I have to offer?”

“Niall.” I said, annoyed now myself. “You and I both know that you have quite a lot to offer. But we’re not going to discuss this now! We’ll just make up another plan. Believe me, with me as your personal wingman, we’ll make the girl crack.”

A crooked smiled appeared on his face. “No, thanks.”

“What? Nialler, come on. You can’t just give up like this!” I said a little desperate. Lina said Coco liked him. And I wanted them to be together.

Niall frowned at my words. “Yes I can, Li. And I’d appreciate if you understood and didn’t press the issue.”

Gaaaaaaaah! “Sure.” I replied lamely while burning up on my inside. I couldn’t back down now. Not that I had just found out how Coco liked him back and not how I saw how broken he was at the thought of not being good enough for her.

Matchmaker Payne was up for this..


	15. Chapter 15

Scrollan’s POV:

I was laying in bed with my headphones in my ears, One Direction blasting my brains. I had downloaded the album Lindsey had given me on iTunes along with their new album and single. The music was incredibly addicting. Niall was incredibly addicting. And I had been so unbelievably stupid. I still couldn’t understand how I possibly could have told him that I just wanted to be friends.

When I had gotten home, that night after telling him it hadn’t seemed as bad. I forced myself into sleep, persuading my mind that everything would be alright when I woke up. I told myself I had only been emotionally shaken and that I wouldn’t consider things as dramatic when I woke up again. Well, I had been wrong.

I woke up in the middle of that night, in tears. I couldn’t really remember what I did or if I did anything at all but when I woke up again the next morning I felt more tired than ever before. All Sunday long I didn’t get out of bed, which had Lindsey worried but I assured her I was okay and she let go of it even though I obviously wasn’t. She offered multiple times to call Lina or to even book me a flight back home and even though this sounded compelling at first I kindly declined. Lindsey had no clue on what had gotten me this upset and mistook it for homesickness. And I came to like the thought. Homesickness was a lot more Scrollan-like than lovesickness.

I called Dan on Monday asking to get the day off. I felt kind of bad for even asking, since I had already had Sunday night off, but I was well aware of the fact that I was in no condition to leave the house, let alone talk to people and work. Because there was always this possibility of running into Niall. And even though we were ‘friends’ now I wished to never see him again. Not as friends.

Friends. Friends. Friends. The word haunted my mind. I hated myself so much for bringing it up. Any chance I could have had with Niall was gone now. All the way.

That night I decided to make myself some strawberry tea, a hot-water bag and cuddle up into my pillows to watch a movie on my laptop. I went trough a variety of DVDs Lindsey and Jim owned and finally picked some James Bond movie I had seen before. Action and shootings was what I needed right now. And I could just skip the love(-making) parts, to avoid feeling anything at all.

I was halfway through the movie and at a rather scary part when a sudden noise almost made me wet myself. Somebody knocking on my door? I turned to see that the door was wide open and nobody was there. Odd. I turned back to the movie but as soon as I tried to concentrate back on the storyline I heard the noise again. The knocking sound made my head flinch up and I paused the video for a moment. The sound again. What the heck was this?

I took me a few more moments to figure out that it was my window. Stones on my window. I crawled across the bed, carefully peeking out the window. Luckily the light in my room was dim but it was still pretty hard to see anything outside. I recognized a large figure in the front yard and frowned as I let myself slip back onto the bed. Niall. Throwing stones at my window. Please not now..

My phone’s screen lit up. He texted me; of course.

I know you’re there. Open your window already or I’ll start throwing bricks. - xx

I wanted to not like his text, I really did, but he made it kind of hard for me. But I decided not to let his crazy Irish way affect me. Not this time, again. We all had seen where this led to and I wasn’t quite fond of the idea of going there again.

Please go away, Niall.

I had to force myself into staying put on the bed and not creeping over towards to the window to watch his reaction. I felt kind of bad for being this harsh with him, especially since I had just told him two days ago that I wanted to be friends with him. But he didn’t seem to bother with this and didn’t even take my text seriously.

Picking up a brick. Winding up.. OPEN YOUR WINDOW!

I sighed. How could he not be offended by this at all? How could he just let go and joke around? I let him have this one.

Like you can even throw a brick this high.

I heard him laugh through the closed window. Through the freaking closed window. Could he maybe stop that? I felt my heart rate pick up, first at his laugh and then at the anger building up at the bottom at my stomach. I didn’t want to feel that way when I heard his laugh or when I knew he was standing outside my house. And even less so I wanted to think about why he was standing outside my house right now.

Yeah, I can. Wanna bet?

My heart skipped a beat and then froze. Not a good idea. I bit my bottom lip, trying to swallow my feelings.

I think I’ve had enough of bets for a while now..

Niall never texted back. And it was getting me nervous. I sat up after a moment and soon enough couldn’t resist the urge to shuffle over to the window and carefully peek through it, only a tiny bit hoping Niall wouldn’t catch me spying on him. Fortunately Niall wasn’t looking up when I peered down at him. He had sat down onto the pavement, his phone in his hands absentmindedly playing with it. His eyes were focused on something on the ground and I couldn’t read his expression.

Sudden compassion kept me from thinking clearly for a moment and I stepped back a little to open up the window without giving it a second thought. And as it was already half open I regretted not rethinking this whole thing.

Niall’s head darted up at the silent rattling sound the old window made as I pulled it open all the way and leaned onto the window still to get a better look at him. The air was cold but fresh and I took in breaths of it as my eyes found Niall’s and we looked at each other for a moment.

“Hey.” He said calmly and quietly, almost too quiet for me to hear, as he got up straightening his pants a little. I smiled back and leaned out the window even further. We just looked at each other and I had a hard time ignoring the rush of emotions sloshing through my brain. And even more so I had when a (OH-MY-GOD-so-sexy) smirk appeared on Niall’s face and he spoke again. “Rapunzel, Rapunzel. Let down your hair.”

I couldn’t help the wide grin spreading across my face. And even though I fought it, my mouth wouldn’t go back to an emotionless expression, so I just hid it with my hand. With the other hand I stroked back my hair and tucked it to the side.

“Fine, whatever.” Niall said playfully angry and he sat back down onto the floor. I was glad for the hand still covering my mouth and hiding the ridiculously wide smile on my lips. I wanted to slap myself, but even if I had I probably still would have been smiling. How could Niall just mess with my head this much and cause the endorphins to rush through my blood like there was no tomorrow? It was frustrating. Even though at this moment even feeling frustrated couldn’t help the grin plastered upon my face. Everything felt good and smiley at the moment.

Maybe I should be doing stuff I usually didn’t like doing, if I’m in such a good mood already., I thought and different options ran trough my mind. Fill out application forms for colleges, clean the house, do the dishes, - any kind of chores actually -, maybe go to bed early-

My thoughts were cut off when Niall caught my attention again. “You’re not talking to me tonight?” I shook my head, half joking, half actually considering it. “You really are quite the princess.” He said, still smirking away and my heart melted away right there and then. I moved my hand and let him see the wide toothy grin on my face. I could see his eyes light up all the way up to my room. Those bright blue eyes. I forgot to breath for a moment.

“Well, princess” He started out after another moment of silent grinning on his part and silent adoring him on my part. “Are you gonna let me in now, or what?”


	16. Chapter 16

Niall’s POV:

The days flew by and nothing changed. God damnit. Nothing changed. Except Liam’s determination maybe with which he tried to get Coco to like me back. Or like me at all. Because quite frankly I had started getting used to the fact that she didn’t like me the way I liked her. And it was okay. We still hung out. A lot actually. Being friends was easier somehow. I could ring her up whenever and just ask her to come over or randomly show up at her house and spend a couple of hours with her.

We still kind of flirted with each other but on a platonic level obviously, since it didn’t mean anything to her. And even if I had wanted to change anything about it, it was kind of hard when we were not alone. Which we basically never were. Liam and Lina were around most of the time and we had started hanging out with all four of us a bit, which was fun.

I had tried talking Liam into going for Lina so we could double-date, but he didn’t like the idea. “Sure, she’s sweet and everything. And I bet she’d make a nice girlfriend. But I’m, well.. really not looking right now.” He had said and with that the topic was done. I figured he was still dwelling on his breakup with Danielle but didn’t push him into talking about it. He’d be fine..

Towards the end of the week Coco called me and told me that her and Lina had gotten Sunday off and asked if we were up for something. Without hesitation – and without asking Liam – I agreed and offered for the two girls to come over to my house. Of course Liam wouldn’t mind though. And if I had known the perfidious plan he had been making I might not have invited the girls to come over.

Lina’s POV:

“Oh, and also I talked to Niall and he invited you and me over to come to his place on Sunday. Liam will be there and we’ll just be hanging out, maybe watch a movie or something like that. Sound good?” I hummed into the phone in response and Coco just kept talking. I focused back on the meal I was cooking and just let her blabber in the background. She was going on and on about Niall, just as she had been doing this whole past week. And just like every day she talked about how fine she was with being friends with how and this was exactly what she wanted and how she was not disappointed at all. I smiled weakly at her poor arguments. She was such a bad liar.

“Are you even listening to me?” I stopped chopping an onion, sniffed a little and then shook my head lightly. “Yeah, Coco. Sorry. Was just thinking. What were you saying?”

“Hmm, doesn’t matter.”

“Was it about Niall?”

“What do you think it was about?”

I laughed. At least she knew how much she was talking about him. Maybe she didn’t like him as ‘just a friend’ after all.

“Alright, what did loverboy do now?” I asked smiling away, as I knew how it pissed her off. I heard her growl through the phone as I picked up the knife again and continued cutting the onion.

“He’s not my loverboy!”

“Sure thing.”

“Lina!”

I chuckled. “You like him, for God’s sake. Admit it already.” She was silent. “I still don’t understand why you told him you wanted to be friends in the first place.”

“Well yeah, neither do I.” Coco spat and sounded seriously pissed all the sudden. Such a touchy subject. I wasn’t up for a fight so I made up and excuse about needing both my hands for the cooking and hung up on her. I didn’t feel bad. She didn’t know what she wanted – or she didn’t want to admit it – and there was no point in talking about this over and over again. I knew my plan already anyways.

I called Liam later that day. We had stuff to talk about. We had things to achieve. We had romances to rescue.

“So, Coco already told me Niall invited us over for Sunday night.” I explain to him after some small talk.

“Oh did he? He didn’t even tell me.” Liam laughed. “But that’s alright. Sunday sounds good, right? You think we can do it yet?”

“Yeah. I think we should. I really need Coco to shut up about him. Sorry for saying this but I’m sick and tired of hearing how great of a friend Niall is.” I said giggling a little and Liam joined in with my laughter.

“Same here. I could totally tell you what Coco wore every day of this past week.”

“They’re so cute, it’s disgusting.”

We laughed more dishing the dirt about their not-so-platonic friendship and then turned to talk about our plan some more. We had the basic structure figured out and both felt confident that our plan would work. Fool proof. I offered to bring some liquor from Dan’s pub to speed up the whole process and Liam liked the idea, sounding excited to see Coco and me as drunks. Though I wasn’t planning on having too many drinks.. Somebody had to watch over the situation and make sure things were going right with the two lovebirds.

Niall’s POV:

Liam was calm. Too calm and it made me nervous. We had been together all day, neither of us knowing what to do really since it was raining cats and dogs in lovely Mullingar even though it was the middle of the summer. We were sitting in the living room, zapping through the TV shows but Liam just blankly stared at the screen obviously caught up with something else on his mind.

“What are you thinking about?” I asked as I put on some random show an turned the volume down.

“Ah, nothing.” He said quietly but a smirk crept upon his lips and made a shiver run down my spine. Liam was smirking. And when Liam was smirking something was up.

“Okay, what is it, Li? Tell me already.”

He glanced up at me but shook his head and waved his hand through the air showing me to let go. I frowned, but didn’t say anything and just started zapping through the TV shows again. Mindlessly I kept pushing the buttons on the remote, my mind caught up with Liam’s smirk. I thought about what Liam knew that I didn’t but I couldn’t really come up with anything sensible.

When I checked the time after a while of watching a random movie that had been on whatever channel I stopped zapping at, I decided to go get ready for later tonight. For the girls to come over. For Coco.

I threw the remote across the couch to Liam telling him that I was going to get in the shower and the grin on his face grew even wider. “I’m gonna lock the door, don’t even try anything funny.” I said but he just waved off, laughing at my comment.

I had just gotten out of the shower and pulled up some boxers when my phone made a sound and I looked up, grabbing it to read Coco’s text.

Popstar! Lina and I will be grabbing some stuff from Dan’s and then we’re on our way. 30 minutes sound good? - xx Scrollan

I grinned at her text. For some reason she had started calling me no longer Niall and herself no longer Coco. The latter probably because I tried to call her with her full name as often as possible. I could see how everybody thought it was odd – because it really was – but I liked it. And in a way Coco, or Scrollan, herself was just as odd.

Sounds lovely, little princess. x

Twenty minutes later Liam and I were sitting in the living room again, the TV turned on but yet again neither of us were really watching. Of course Liam had to make comments about me changing and drowning myself in the cologne Coco had said she liked to much. I let him though, somewhere in the back of my mind knowing that he was right anyways and that I was going to lose the argument. Liam just knew me too well. Sometimes even better than myself and occasionally I was glad to have him around and interpret my feelings, because quite frankly I hadn’t really known how to name the stomach-turning lightheaded feelings Coco put me through. He had called it love but I liked to name it a crush.

So now I was sitting on the edge of the couch, nervously rubbing my palms down my thighs. My hands were sweaty but I didn’t know why. Well, I mean I did, I just didn’t want to think about it. Even admitting it to myself internally seemed like a step too far.

“Calm, Nialler.” Liam said with a slight smile on his face. “It’ll be fun. You act like you’re about to be grilled by the police.”

I looked at him, trying to make a face but failing horribly as I was too nervous to control my muscles correctly and too amused to seriously frown upon him.

The doorbell rung and I jump, almost falling off the couch causing Liam to laugh loudly. “Jesus Christ, Niall! We’ve been hanging out with them this whole past week. What’ wrong with you today?”

“You’re smirking.” I said and he turned to furrow his eyebrows at me.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He asked as he walked through the room to the hallway to get the door.

“I know you have a sinister plan in mind!” I called after him and he just laughed as he pulled open the door.

If only I had known how right I was..


	17. Chapter 17

Scrollan’s POV:

Lina and I were standing in front of Niall’s house’s door, pushing each other playfully and giggling away. We had been in a good mood today. Way too good to be normal. And I didn’t even know why.

Lina had seemed overly ecstatic about something all day, jumping around the house happily and blasting the music in her room loudly. I had stayed at hers the night before and only went home for a little bit today to get changed and pick up some things for tonight.

Looking at each other in the reflexion of the glass door now Lina started poking my side and pulling the hem of my neckline. “Stop it.” I swat her hand away expecting one of the boys to open the door rather soon. Lina just giggled and wiggled her eyebrows at me.

“You look hot. Niall’s gonna love it.”

http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=64672768&.locale=de

Lina had forced me into a – what she called – ‘incredibly sexy’ outfit. To me it more seemed like a normal outfit, maybe showing off a bit more cleavage, since Lina wouldn’t really let me button the shirt up all the way, but I let her have it her way.

As the wind picked up a little the rain started hitting our backside even though we were standing underneath the porch of the house. I opened my mouth to complain about the boys being too lazy to open the door but as I did the door was swiftly pulled open and Lina and I stumbled in, getting out of the the rain.

“Well, hello there girls. Why don’t you come in?” Liam mocked us, already standing in the hallway.

“Very funny.” Lina said rolling her eyes at him. “If you would have been here a little earlier I wouldn’t have soaking wet feet now.”

“Ah, stop complaining.” He said pulling her into a side hug but she shrugged his arm off. “Not my fault you had to wait. Niall here had sudden troubles breathing.” He said cocking an eyebrow at me and Lina laughed loudly. I just blushed a little trying not to make too much of it. We were friends now, after all.

When we entered the living room I saw Niall sitting on the edge of the couch, slowly getting up as we entered. He hugged both Lina and I and then we sat down all together, Lina and Niall hogging the couch. I sat down on the floor next to Niall’s legs – though of course Lina had to offer me to sit on Niall’s lap, which I declined, blushing – and Liam sat down across from me.

“Okay well, what are we up to now?” I asked after a moment of small talk, pulling my knees to my chest and hugging them.

“Well, first of all,” Lina pulled up her purse “We brought liquor from Dan’s. So getting wasted is totally on the agenda.” Liam and her exchanged glances which got me worried. They smiled.

“We could watch a movie.” Niall suggested and I nodded.

“Yeah!” Lina said excitedly and jumped up. “Where are the DVDs?” Niall pointed at a shelf and she walked right over to it, starting to go through the titles of the movies. Liam crawled up the couch and sat in her spot.

“Hey!” she said accusingly, glaring at him a little and waving on of the DVDs through the air. Liam just grinned back at her not moving from her spot. “Fine, whatever.” Lina picked a movie, put it in and then came to sit in Liam previous spot right next to me. As the movie started everybody got comfortable and I leaned back against Niall’s legs.

“That okay?” I asked turning my head a little so I could see his face.

“Yeah, sure.” He said with a slight smile on his face and as I turned back around to face the TV I saw from the corner of my eyes how Niall and Liam were exchanging looks. How come everybody was exchanging those looks today? I felt like they were having silent conversations that I wasn’t part of. Hmm.

The movie was all guns and action, and kind of boring. Leaning against Niall’s legs was rather uncomfortable but I didn’t want to move and he didn’t make an attempt to get into another position either so we just stayed like this throughout the entire movie.

When it was done I shifted a little, leaning down to the side to rest my head on Lina’s shoulder. “Tired already?” She asked and I just nodded into her side closing my eyes lazily.

“Okay guys, we need to drink.” Liam said promptly, jumping up and climbing over Lina and me to make his way to the kitchen. Niall moved as well, spreading out his legs a little and rubbing his shins. Looked like the position hadn’t been too comfortable for him either.

Lina and I sat up as Liam returned and Niall climbed off the couch to sit with us. We were all sitting in a circle on the floor now, beaming at each other. Liam sat down the glasses for us and Lina opened up the first bottle, filling the glasses for each of us.

“What are we even drinking?” Niall asked raising the glass to his eyes suspiciously. As he sniffed the liquid the raised his eyebrows and looked and us expectantly.

“You don’t even wanna know.” Lina said as she put the lid back onto the bottle. “On the count of three. One, Two, Three.”

We all raised our glasses and chucked the liquid.

“Okay, I ain’t having any more of that.” I said after round four. Whatever alcohol Lina had gotten from Dan was the most disgusting thing in the world.

“’re you drunk already?” Liam asked sitting to my left.

“Nah, just tastes like shit.” I said plainly and heard Niall snicker, sitting on the other side of me. Liam nodded and muttered something like “Fair enough.” under his breath before taking another shot together with Lina.

“Okay, it really is disgusting.” She said as she sat down the glass laughing. “And this should be enough for now.” Enough for now? She would have to force me into drinking any more of that. But of course she would, if she really wanted me to. What a great friend she was.

“Hey Liam, actually we’d have to play truth or dare now.” Niall said snickering and Liam grinned widely. “True.”

“Truth or dare?” Lina asked, sounding interested.

“Yeah, it’s just kinda what we do with the lads whenever we get wasted.”

Oh no. No. No. No. Truth or dare was never a good idea. And especially not when you were playing with someone you had a crush on. And even less so when you had a good friend with you who knew about that. And who was determined to get you hooked up. Hell, no.

“Alright, Liam. Truth or Dare!” Lina prompted, already beginning to play.

“Hmm, truth.” He said after a moment of thinking, glancing over to Niall.

“Think about it, Coco. This is our chance.” Lina said excitedly. “We can ask them anything. We can gather all the important information and then sell them to the press.” I laughed at her words.

“It’s worth a shot.” I admitted grinning at her, as I saw Niall and Liam exchanging worried looks. It was amusing. Very amusing. Maybe this game wouldn’t be too bad after all.

“Okay, well Liam.. Have you ever done anything illegal?” Lina asked him and he cocked his head to the one side thinking about it.

“I don’t think I-”

“Yeah you have!” Niall interrupted him. “Drinking.. in America.”

“Oh, yeah.” Liam nodded as he remembered. “We always drink when we get to America. Even though we’re technically underage there, so yeah. I think that’s illegal.”

“Boring.” Lina commented and we laughed. “Who’s up next?”

“I pick..” Liam looked around and then glanced at me. “Coco.” I frowned. “Truth or Dare?”

“Umm..” I thought about it for a moment. I really wasn’t up for doing something possibly – or highly likely – embarrassing, so trying to save my butt I picked “Truth.”

“Okay.” Liam glanced around the room thinking of something to ask me. When he face suddenly lit up in excitement I knew something bad was to come. “Who’s your celebrity crush?” Oh. That wasn’t too bad. “And keep in mind, Niall totally counts as a celebrity.” Okay, here we go.

I blushed brightly under his words and glancing to the side I could see that Niall had gotten reddish cheeks himself. I really couldn’t pick him now – as much as I wanted to.

“I would probably say.. Robert Downey Junior.”

“Oh yeah, he’s hot.” Lina exclaimed nodding and grinning.

“Hmm, that’s odd though.” Liam said looking from Lina to me. Odd? How was that odd? “He looks nothing like Niall.” Oh, Liam.

I blushed brightly again wishing for nothing more than to disappear from this planet or wake up from this horribly embarrassing dream. I thought about getting up and leaving right then and there and looking back now, knowing what else was to come, I probably should have.

For the most part the game really fun. Lina’s dare was to walk down the the street yelling “Someone shot me!” until one of the neighbors came out of the house to help her. Liam, Niall and I were squished together by the small window in the kitchen to watch the whole thing happening outside and almost pissed ourselves, that’s how funny the situation was.

Niall’s dare was to text was to text the 10th person in his phone saying he loved them. To Liam’s amusement it was Louis whom Niall had saved as ‘Boo Bear’ which apparently was one of his nicknames. Lina and I were already laughing our butts off from how ridiculous ‘Boo Bear’ sounded but as he called Niall back asking him what the previous text had been about, Lina and I were laying on the floor crying from laughter.

“You two are some crazy drunks.” Niall stated as Lina and I tried to calm our breaths. But his words made us laugh even harder and for a moment I was worried of not getting enough breath and started seeing stars.

“Whooo.” I breathed out and after a moment or two I had calmed down and Lina next to me was only giggling quietly now.

“Okay, c’mon now.” Niall said, offering me a hand and pulling me up to be sitting next to him. I leaned my forehead against his shoulder snickering quietly every now and then as we continued playing.

“Who was up next?” Liam asked as we sat together again.

“I think you were.” Niall said, grinning lightly. We all had some weird grins and smiles plastered across our faces and one could really tell now that the alcohol started effecting our brains. Great. It could only get worse from here.

“Alright, Truth again.” Liam said and we all thought about a question.

“Oh, I got a good one.” Lina said excitedly and Niall and I just nodded at her, telling her to go ahead. “Out of the Queen, Megan Fox and Niall’s mum, which one would you kiss, marry and bone?”

I laughed but Niall furrowed his eyebrows looking angrily at Lina. “Did you really have to put my mom in this?”

Liam waved it off. “No worries mate, I’d really only kiss your mum. And I’d marry.. the Queen. So I could be king. That’s be really sweet. And bone.. Megan Fox. For obvious reasons.” We laughed, but Liam seemed to be really content with his answer.

I felt my phone vibrate and quickly pulled it out of my bra to check it. Since my shorts didn’t have any pockets this was the next convenient spot to hide it. Lina had texted me.

I know who Niall would want to kiss, marry and bone.

I wanted to frown at her badly, but a huge grin crept upon my lips. Still smiling like an idiot I tried to glare at her at the same time. “Lina.” I said angrily and slipped the phone back into my bra. Our conversation had caught the boys’ attention and they were now looking at us with questioning eyes, but Lina and I were still starring at each other.

“I was just texting Coco..” Lina explained mindlessly after a moment and looked away from me, still grinning widely.

“That is not very polite girls.” Liam explained. “Niall, I dare you to take the girls’ phones and keep them for the rest of the night.” Oh no. No. No.

“Well, I dare you to find my phone, first of all!” Lina snapped and Liam and Niall grinned at each other. I didn’t know whether it was Niall’s actual curiosity about what Lina and I were texting each other or whether he was just feeling tipsy enough to go for Liam’s dare but he made Lina get up to stand in front of him. He carefully poked her front pockets and then let his fingers wander to her back where he quickly slipped in fingers into her pocket and pulled out the phone, making Lina frown in disappointment.

As Niall was about to sit back down and try to unlock Lina’s phone Liam pushed him further saying “Coco’s next.”

He made me get up as well and my heart was pouting quicker now, not wanting to think about what Niall would be making of Lina’s text. I was praying for her to have some sort of code keeping the boys from reading the texts because if she hadn’t, things could get really awkward. Though of course they were about to, anyways..

Niall stood closely to me, really closely. He looked me in the eyes as his fingers poked the front of my shorts, even though there no pockets anyways. As he realized the phone wasn’t there he stepped even closer and let his fingers wander to my back, and his fingers carefully fumbled over my butt. I blushed and tried to force myself into not enjoying his touch or the baffled expression on his face as now he realized that the phone wasn’t there either. He took his eyes from mine and looked down my front and my back, checking that he hadn’t missed any pockets.

Liam and him exchanged glances and so did Lina and I. She winked at me, knowing exactly where my phone was. I couldn’t help the fluttery feeling in my stomach.

“C’mon Nialler.” Liam said, picking up on their nonverbal conversation they had been having. “There’s like really only one spot left.” Niall looked a little lost. He was still standing kind of close to me and he was looking from Liam to me and back to Liam, trying to understand what he was saying. “One spot for girls.” Liam stressed the last word, cocking his eyebrows at him, leaving no doubt of what he was talking about.

I saw Niall’s eyes wander from Liam towards my cleavage and felt his breath pick up as he finally understood where this whole thing was going. His eyes darted up to catch mine and we started at each other for a moment before Niall shook his head lightly and stepped away from me, holding up his hands defensively. “I’m passing on this one.” He said with his voice sounding rigid.

“Okay.” Liam said, sounding nonchalantly. Niall’s shoulders relaxed a little, but I couldn’t help the rather disappointing feeling spreading through my stomach. It wasn’t that I had wanted for him to feel me up – though I wouldn’t have minded of course – but him passing on this dare showed more then clearly that he was all in for being friends now. Which was totally not what I wanted. If I had had any hope for a chance with him left, it was destroyed now.

We stood there awkwardly for a moment and Niall and Liam were still looking at each other. Niall seemed surprised with Liam casual answer, but the smirk on Liam’s lips gave away that this wasn’t the end of it yet. “I dare you to kiss her instead, then.”

The feelings inside my head were going crazy but before I could put my finger of any of them Niall shook his head at Liam. “Fuck you, Liam.” He said upon walking out of the room and slamming the door shut as he left.


	18. Chapter 18

Niall’s POV:

I called Harry. Because even though Harry was the youngest in the band I sometimes considered him the wisest. At least when it was about girls.

“Oh, hey Niall!” Harry said as he picked up the phone.

“Hi.” I said lamely, still feeling a little down from what had just happened a moment ago. How Liam had just not only put me in the most awkward situation imaginable but how he also constantly ruined my chances with Coco. There was no way one could be this weird acting without doing it on purpose.

“What’s up, mate?” Harry asked sounding a little worried. For a reason.

“Um.. Can I ask you something?”

“Sure, Niall. Go ahead.”

I hesitated for a moment, not sure how to put my question into words. I felt kind of ridiculous for even asking, but Liam’s actions left me no other choice. “Did Liam.. talk to you by any chance?”

“About what?”

“Nothing in particular, I don’t.. did he just- .. Does he hate me or something?”

“Niall?” Harry sounded seriously worried now. “Did you guys fight?”

“I-, no. See, I was just wondering.. Did he mention Coco? Like a lot?”

“Oh, yeah. I mean we talked about her.” Harry hesitated for a moment. He was thinking the same thing I was. “You’re not fighting over a girl, are you?” I didn’t answer. I didn’t know. And it scared me. “Niall.” Harry didn’t let go.

“I don’t know, Haz. He’s just.. so weird lately. He says he’s trying to hook me up with her or something, but well he’s just putting me in such awkward situations. It just seems like he tries to get her to like me even less than she already does.”

“Oh, c’mon Ni. You know Liam. He’s just about as subtle as a neon sign flashing it’s message trough the dark. You didn’t really expect him to be a good matchmaker, did you?”

I grumbled into the phone, knowing Harry was right in a way. I really shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up. Liam really wasn’t that great of a matchmaker that he could make up for the fact that Coco just didn’t like me as it was.

“Cheer up, Nialler. I really don’t think Liam is interfering with you in this. But if you’re still upset when you get back to London I’ll take you out and we’ll get you hooked up with some chick way hotter than Coco, alright?”

I smiled weakly. Of course this would be Harry’s way to cheer me up. “Thanks, Haz. But I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”

He groaned. “What? She got you hooked real good there, huh? I thought I taught you better than to get all emotional with the ladies!”

“I am not emotional.”

Harry snorted. “Don’t you freaking lie to me, Niall.”

Later that night I was laying in my bed, my head spinning a little as the after effects of the alcohol I had had earlier. My body felt tired and exhausted but my mind was running wild and so I laid in bed thinking of something to think about, while waiting for time to pass by.

As I laid in silence I heard Liam shuffle through the living room downstairs and I felt bad for leaving him to clean up all by himself. And then again I thought he deserved it, as at least a little punishment for what he had done to me. Done to Coco. As I thought about it now I realized I never really paid attention to her reaction after Liam had dared me to kiss her. Right now I regretted walking out so badly and wished to go back in time to see how she had reacted. Not that I expected her to wrap her arms around my neck and start snogging, but one could always hope. And even though we had been hanging out as friends all this past days I still couldn’t deny feeling that special kind of tension building up whenever we were alone and her fingers gently touched the skin on my arm or my cheek. Platonically of course, but I enjoyed it anyways.

As silent as the knock on my door was, it still made me jump up a little and shuffle through my bed. Liam stuck his head through the now opened door.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He said apologizing, a light smile lingering on his lips. I grunted quietly, showing him I accepted his apology.

“What do you want?”

“Can I come in? I wanna.. talk.”

I hesitated a moment and frowned, thinking about his words but in the end I scooted over a little to give him some room to come sit with me. Because after all it was always hard to stay mad at him. Or any of the lads, frankly. We were just too good of friends.

Liam shuffled through the room quietly, not turning on any of the lamps. The little light falling into the room came from the gap in the door Liam hadn’t closed all the way. I couldn’t really see his face; all I could make out were his features as he sat down next to me, one of his hands grabbing the covers and the other one resting on his thighs.

“I uh..” He cleared his voice. “I heard you talked to Harry.” Great. Harry had told him. Now I felt like an idiot and I didn’t know what to say either. “Why would you.. think I hate you?” He sounded upset. His voice was sad and merely a whisper and made me feel so guilty all the sudden.

“I didn’t say I thought you hated me..” I tried to defend myself, my voice cracking. “I’m just..- Okay, I’m sorry Li. But you’re such bad of a matchmaker. And I really don’t think Coco likes me, so.. Can you just let go and we’ll go back to normal?”

Liam looked down at me, his mouth opened as if he wanted to say something, but then he closed it again furrowing his brows, deep in thought. If really hoped my words wouldn’t upset him but his face looked rather thoughtful than anything else.

“Do you..?” Liam started out and then stopped again hesitating a little before he picked up the next few words. “Can I, uh, tell you a secret?” My eyes grew a little wider, not really knowing what to expect from this. If he told me now that he had feelings for Coco as well I didn’t know how well I could take this. I swallowed hard but nodded, motioning for him to continue speaking.

“It’s not.. exactly about me. It’s something Lina told me. And she.. didn’t exactly say I wasn’t supposed to tell you about it, but well- I guess she thought I wouldn’t, so yeah..” He stopped again and I furrowed my brows at him now, not understanding where this conversation was leading us to. “The reason that I think you and Coco should be together is that.. well Lina kinda told me Coco likes you. ‘Like’ as in ‘I-wanna-date-you-like’.” His voice trailed off at the end of the sentence and he bit the inside of his cheeks, starring down at me in expectancy.

“Liam, are you fucking with me? Because if you are, I swear to God I will-”

“I’m not.” He cut me off, leaving me speechless for a moment and then letting my head sink back down into the pillow. If I had thought it had been spinning before then it probably was going through a tornado right now.

Scrollan’s POV:

I sat in front of the computer with my uncle Jim, my aunt standing right behind us peeking over our shoulders.

“Okay, let’s see.. In the morning you said, right?” Jim asked as he scrolled down the webpage and we looked at the offers on the airline’s site. “You could get one at..” He stretched the last word and then looked through more offers. “At 9:20am?”

I nodded. “That sounds good. That’d be on the Thursday then , right?”

“Yeah, next Thursday.”

“Okay.” I agreed and Lindsey squeezed my shoulders lightly before making her way downstairs to get some work done in the kitchen. I sat with Jim as he did all the flight reservations for me (since I wasn’t really smart enough to do that on my own). As he printed out the E-Ticket for me and I took it to the room together with my passport and all the other stuff I needed I started getting a weird feeling in my stomach. I’d be leaving so very soon. In less than two weeks. To be going back to London.

It felt weird thinking how I had come to really like this little Irish town and how I really didn’t want to leave now. The people here were so very nice and I couldn’t imagine not seeing Lina every day. Even though I had only known her for the summer it felt like we had become such good friends in such short time. I would miss her.

I sat down onto my bed, not daring to think about Niall or Liam. Those two were quite a handful but I liked them a lot and leaving them would be hard as well. Even more so since I couldn’t get my thoughts off Niall after that stupid game of Truth or Dare. I hadn’t slept a night ever since without dreaming about the moment where Liam dared Niall to kiss me. Never once in my dreams would Niall walk out on us. He’d be very sweet and kind, and always give into the dare sooner or later in his adorable, unique way. Every single time. And I kept wishing that this would have been how it went down in real life..

But since it didn’t I figured getting away from Niall for some time would be good for my health. If I didn’t see him anymore I’d probably get over the fact that he didn’t like me soon enough and then could move on with my normal life.

Speak of the devil., I thought as my phone rang and the ID showed me that Niall was calling. We hadn’t talked since the rather awkward encounter at his house the previous Sunday.

“Hey.” I said as I picked up the phone, trying to sound as normal and nonchalantly as I could.

“Hey there.” He replied, sounding almost bored and not embarrassed at all. Good. That meant we were beyond the awkward part and could go back to normal.

“What’s up?” I asked and he hummed into the phone.

“Meh, not much. Pretty bored. What about you?”

“’Bout the same. Just booked my flight back to London with my uncle.”

“Oh..” He said flatly. There was a silence and I thought about something to say but got lost listening to his breath for a moment. “I.. When is it?”

“The flight? Oh, uhm.. Next Thursday.”

“So that’s like.. eight more days, right?”

I hummed into the phone in response just now thinking about how little time eight days actually were. I was going to miss him and the lump suddenly forming in my throat let me know just how much I was going to miss him. So much more than I wanted to. But it was okay with me. Not seeing him again was the best I could to for myself.

“So Coco, would you.. maybe like to meet again when we’re both back in London?” He asked and against better knowledge I blurted out right away “Yes. I’d love to!” He chuckled at my excitement and I blushed thinking about how I had just reacted.

“So when.. when are you going back then?” I asked, trying to hide the shaking in my voice.

“Like a week after you.”

“Oh.” I responded, sounding a lot more defeated and sad than I intended to. I shook my head at my own silliness and then flopped onto the bed in my room, digging my head into the pillows.

“Well, I could probably reschedule the flight.” Niall said hesitantly after a moment and my head snatched up.

“No, No.” Yes. Yes. Yes! “I didn’t mean to.. you know. You probably have stuff to do, here. So..”

“I actually don’t. And it could be handy to be back before the other boys to get settle in and stuff..”

“No, Niall. Sorry, I really shouldn’t have-”

“Scrollan, you’re fine. It’ll be good. We can hang out.”

“Okay.. My parents are still on vacation anyways, so I won’t have to be alone then.”

“You won’t, princess.”

“Okay.”

“Okay, then.”

The smile on my face couldn’t have been any wider, even if I had tired.


	19. Chapter 19

Lina’s POV:

Time passed by in a haze. The summer was almost over and even though it was starting to get colder I couldn’t quite believe it. Coco was leaving so very soon and I just really didn’t want her to go. After all we had grown to become quite good friends during her stay here in Mullingar.

Thursday morning I woke up next to Coco and as soon as I opened my eyes I scooted closer to her, wrapping my arms around her awkwardly as we both laid in bed. Coco stirred underneath my hug and rolled over a bit until she was facing me. Her eyes fluttered open.

“Hi.” She muttered sleepily smiling at me.

“Hey.” I grinned back, snuggling into my pillow. We starred at each other, both lost in our thoughts. Our calm breaths were the only sound in the silent room and soon enough we were breathing in and out in sync.

I chuckled, rolling onto my back and pulling my arms from around her to rest them across my chest.

“I can’t believe I’m leaving already.” She said quietly after some time and her words hung in the air for a moment. I didn’t really know what to say to this. I didn’t want her to go but I didn’t want her to feel bad for leaving either. I knew her aunt and uncle were making this hard enough for her already.

“Yeah, me neither.”

“As weird as it’s gonna sound.. I like Mullingar. I’d really like to stay.”

“Told you it’s actually kinda nice here. But you wouldn’t believe me.”

“Yeah I know.” She grinned at me apologizing. “Think of all the fun stuff we did together.”

“Hmm.” I hummed in agreement letting my thoughts wander off to all the shifts we had worked together, all the conversations we had shared and the times we hung out together, doing random and crazy stuff just for the time to pass by. The memories were good memories and I cherished them for a moment as Coco snuggled into my shoulder resting her head against it before speaking quietly.

“What am I gonna do without you?”

“Hmm, I don’t know.”

“Come with me.” I laughed. I would have loved to go with her. I had always wanted to see London, just to get out of this little Irish town, but I couldn’t just pack up and leave. I had work here, all my friends and family. If only she could stay instead.

“I’m afraid law only permits English people to export one Irish person per stay.”

“Very funny.” Coco said dryly but she couldn’t keep a wide grin from creeping upon her lips.

“You know you think it’s funny!” I said teasing her and poking her cheeks until she joined in with my laughter. After a while she swat my hand away, still giggling a little.

“Okay, fine. Maybe it was funny. But I’m not exporting Niall. He already lives in London anyways.”

“Well, but he’s gonna stay at yours for a couple of days, so it does count.”

“He’s not staying at mine!” Coco exclaimed, sitting up all the sudden and waving he hands through the air. Somebody was a little tense..

“Yes, he is.” I kept teasing as she glared down at me.

Twenty minutes later I got out of the shower and as I entered the room, I saw Coco sitting on the bed halfway dressed, staring at some distant point.

“You okay?” I asked as I pulled the towel around my body a little tighter, looking for some clothes to wear myself. Coco’s head turned to look at me and she just nodded absentmindedly continuing getting dressed. She looked sad in a way and it hurt to see her this way. Her eyes weren’t sparkling as usually, excited for the day, and her whole behavior seemed rather impassive.

We got dressed quietly and I was thinking of something to say to her. Frankly I didn’t quite know why she was so very upset. Even though she said it seemed weird thinking of how she would actually be missing Mullingar, after saying how much she hated it all this time. Of course I understood how she had grown closer with her aunt and uncle, and also with me and I sort of liked to think that she would miss me as well.

In a way I figured she would also me missing Niall, though of course she would be seeing him again very soon. He had changed the reservation on his flight and him and Liam were going back four days earlier than planned. Liam said he would use this time to go visit his family in Wolverhampton but it wasn’t hard too see that this really only was an excuse to leave Niall and Coco by themselves.

Liam and I had seen that obviously things didn’t work out as great when we interfered with them, though it was incredibly hard on me letting those two lovebirds dance around each other, neither of them admitting their feelings and hurting each other any longer. I felt like I couldn’t be any more obvious when trying to give Coco hints at how Niall liked her back, but Coco didn’t seem to think so, constantly persisting on saying how neither did she like Niall that way nor did he like her back. At times it just made me wanting to throw bricks at her head.

So when we were sitting next to each other at the kitchen table at her house, having breakfasts I decided it was my duty to tell her about Niall’s feelings towards her before she left.

“Coco?” I asked, fumbling with cup of tea in my hands while she was taking sips of her own.

“Hmm?” She replied not looking up from the cup while blowing air across the hot liquid’s surface and watching the little waves the movement of the air drew on the tea.

“About Niall..” I started, but she looked up right away frowning at me

“Can we maybe stop talking about him? I’m really not in the mood.”

I was a little thrown off, not really knowing whether to give in to her wish or keep pressing. “Well, but.. it’s important.” I decided not to let it go yet.

“Fine what is it?” She asked looking down again and playing with the little paper slip from the tea bag. When I didn’t answer right away she looked up at me with curious eyes. She was expecting an answer. I wasn’t quite sure on how to tell her, but I figured since sugarcoating it didn’t do it for her, I’d just have to be honest with her.

“He likes you.” I blurted out right away and a slight smile cringed onto her lips.

“Yeah, one would think so. We’re friends, of course he likes me.”

Wow. She was really slow on the uptake. “He likes you as in romantically like you. Not just as friends.”

She cocked an eyebrow at me. “Don’t be ridiculous. We’ve talked about this like a billion times. It’s over with, so please just let go.” Coco didn’t sound too convinced of what she was saying. Which was good for me.

“Who’s the one being ridiculous here? He likes you, I know it.”

“How’s that?”

“Well.. I kinda, sorta talked to Liam about it. Maybe.”

Coco rolled her eyes at me and then leaned back in her chair, her hands running through her hair. “We.. we are not going to talk about this.” She said, getting up and taking her cup with her. She set it down onto the kitchen counter and then left the room, leaving me to sit by myself.

I frowned. This hadn’t gone the way I planned for it to go. Why did she have to make such a big deal about things? Why couldn’t she just accept that he liked her and then get together with him? She could be so very frustrating.

An hour later Coco and I were sitting in the back of her aunt’s car, her uncle driving and the four of us going to the airport to say goodbye to Coco. There wasn’t any room for us to continue our conversation, which I knew she didn’t want to do anyways, but I really wanted her to know how serious I was with what I was saying. And how serious Niall was about her. But somehow she just wouldn’t accept that.

With her aunt and uncle in the front of the car, there was light conversation going on but nothing too deep or depressing. I could sense Lindsey’s sadness and in a way it pulled me down emotionally as well. So far I had managed to ignore the fact that I wasn’t going to see her anymore, but now that we were sitting in the car and I watched Coco flip through the papers of her E-Ticket it became incredibly realistic to me all the sudden.

I swallowed some tears and faked a smile for Coco when she turned to look at me. The frown on her face let me know she knew I was hiding something but she let go of it and turned her attention back towards her phone. She had been texting ever since we had left the house and I figured she was texting Niall, but I didn’t ask.

Niall and Liam had come to the bar the night before. It had been Coco’s last day at work and I was glad we were having a quite night, so I managed to keep most customers satisfied myself, giving Coco some time to chat away with the boys. They stayed late, until Dan closed up the bar and kicked all four of us out, wishing us a nice night. He hugged Coco goodbye and offered for her to come back anytime and work for him again.

We stood and chatted with the boys for a while before Coco declared that she needed to get home, since her flight was leaving rather early in the morning. I had promised to spend the last night here in Ireland with her, so we started walking towards her house, the boys walking with us for most of the way.

Liam hugged her tightly saying a few words into her ear, making her chuckle and hug him even tighter. I wished I knew what he was saying to her. To my surprise Niall only hugged her quickly – which still was pretty affectionate, but nothing compared to what I had expected. He said a few words as well, leaving her to smile wider than before, but not wanting to talk about for the rest of the night.

I had kind of expected Niall to show up at the house this morning, to say goodbye to Coco properly, but he never showed. And now sitting in the car, Coco and him still texting I thought he might be catching up with us at the airport.

And I was right. After Coco’s uncle had checked in her luggage for her, we all sat down at a little cafe by the airport – just to pay a ridiculous amount of money for a cup of tea but whatever. We chatted away lightly and after a while Coco took yet another glimpse at her phone announcing “Uhm.. Niall might be stopping by.”

I couldn’t help the grin spreading across my face. He might be stopping by. By chance. He’s just coincidentally running into us. 50 miles away from his house at an airport. I didn’t say anything though and also ignored the fact that Coco was trying very hard not to look me in the eyes. I let her have it her way.

Two minutes later Niall showed up, greeting all of us cheerfully and then sitting down next to Coco. We chatted away all together as Niall talked about experiences he and the boys made at airports, since they got to travel quite a lot lately. His stories were hilarious and constantly made me and Coco’s aunt and uncle laugh, though Coco just smiled away sadly throughout his stories. When Lindsey ask her about it, telling her to cheer up a little she simply said she’d already heard the stories, though to me it seemed like there was something else. Of course there was.

Fifteen minutes before it was time for Coco to check-in and go through the security check we all left the cafe, accompanying her to the right gate. Coco and Niall were walking together and even though I died to know what they were talking about I let myself fall back a little bit to chat with Lindsey and John instead.

When we reached the gate Lindsey was the first to wrap her arms around a surprised looking Coco, pulling her into a tight hug and making her blush a little at the sudden display of affection. As she held her she kept whispering about how much she was going to miss her and her words made it hard for me to swallow down my own tears.

Luckily John just gave Coco a quick yet affectionate hug, telling her to come back to visit whenever she liked to. He stroked over her head one last time before I flung my arms around her neck, silent tears rolling down my cheeks now.

“I’m gonna miss you so much. You have to promise to text me every day. And we’re gonna talk on the phone. And skype.”

“Okay.” Coco whispered, pulling away a little. As we looked into each others faces I saw that she was crying as well and I raised my hand to wipe away her tears.

“Don’t cry.” I said and we were both laughing at how ridiculously we were acting.

“Pull it together.” She teased and I smiled through my now decreasingly falling tears. “I’ll come visit again next summer. Or you should come visit me sometime. Christmas maybe, or so.”

I nodded, wiping away some last tears from her cheeks and then stepping away a little, knowing that there was one last person who she had to say goodbye to.

Niall stepped forward as I walked back a little and I felt somebody wrap an arm around my shoulder. I looked up to see Lindsey stand next to me, holding me to her side smiling weakly. “Don’t cry, Lina. She’s gonna come visit.” She said while petting my arm.

“Yeah, I know.” I sniffed, smiling at her. “I don’t even know why I’m acting this way.”

Lindsey laughed.

I turned my head to watch Coco and Niall, trying to be as subtle as possibly, though not risking to miss anything. They stood closely, Niall talking to her, while resting his hands on her hips. Coco was nervously lacing her fingers, looking up from her hands at Niall and back down at her hands.

Niall was speaking quietly so I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but from the looks on Coco’s face he wasn’t pouring out his heart to her. She smiled away sadly at him and as he finished what he wanted to say to her he wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her into he tight hug. Coco’s face was resting against his chest and they stood in complete silence for a while.

The sight made me feel like fainting, that’s how cute they were. Anybody watching this would never mistake those two as friends. Their connection was obvious.

I saw Lindsey and John turn away a little, trying to give some privacy to my two friends that still stood there, hugging each other, not moving at all. I wished for one of them to sum up enough courage and finally admit their feelings to the other. And I wished for Coco to believe what I had told her and just pull Niall’s face down into the kiss they both been waiting on forever. But nothing happened.

After a moment – which was way too long for a hug, even if it was an casual goodbye-hug – Niall let go of Coco a little and they stepped back a tiny bit, though still standing close to each other. Coco said a few words and Niall smiled down at her, replying shortly and pulling her into another quick hug before pressing his lips on the top for her head, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment.

Coco stumbled back a little, blushing brightly as they turned to face us again and Lindsey handed her the carry-on luggage. With her face still brightly red, Coco took the bag waving at all of us and then turned to walk towards the security check not turning around again.

I nudged Niall who stood next to me with a rather cloudy expression on his face. He looked down at me for a moment and as he turned his head again to keep watching Coco talk to one of the workers at the security check I pulled him into a side-hug, grinning at him comfortably.


	20. Chapter 20

Niall’s POV:

„Let’s go, Niall.“ Lina said tugging on my sleeve and pulling me with her. I didn’t look down at her and just let her lead me through the masses of people at the airport. My body was feeling numb and I was glad Lina had decided to take control over what was going on, leaving me to linger in my own thoughts.

I heard her talking with Coco’s aunt and uncle but the words didn’t affect my brain and I just followed her along as she was still tugging on my sleeve dragging me with her.

“Oh, I’ll be fine. Niall here’s gonna give me ride.” Lina said laughing as Lindsey offered her to ride back with them and with one last wave Line tugged me to the side pulling me towards where I had parked my car. How did she even know?

I had been caught up in my own thoughts and snapped out of trance as we reached the car and Lina waited patiently for me to get the keys out and unlock the doors. We got in and I absentmindedly sat for a moment, well aware of the fact that she was watching me.

“Are you.. in the condition to drive?”

I shook my head lightly, trying to get rid of the thoughts making me feel all fuzzy and then nodded slowly. “Yes, I- No. I mean, yes. I’m good.” I started the engine and Lina buckled up, still glancing at me every now and then.

As we left the parking lot and drove towards the highway I was wondering why my head was still spinning as much. What happened? It’s not like anything went differently from the usual. Coco and I had been texting this morning, then talking at the cafe and saying goodbye at the gate. Though it wasn’t much of a goodbye since I was going to see her again in a couple of days. Nothing major..

As I tried to focus on the street I was driving on Lina distracted me. She kept starring at me from the side, not taking her eyes off me once.

“You alright?” I asked after a moment of silence, looking at her quickly before pinning my eyes back onto the road.

“I could ask you the same question.”

“I’m good, thanks.” I said trying to fake a smile for her. She laughed at how terrible the attempt was.

“Oh come on, Niall! You’re gonna see her again in.. like what? One day?”

“It’s a little more then that, but.. yeah.”

“See!” She raised her hands laughing desperately. “It’s kinda pointless you even said goodbye to her. I mean you’re gonna go back to London and then you two will virtually live together.”

I blushed but kept my eyes on the road, trying to avoid her gaze. “We won’t live together.” I said rather awkwardly, though I liked the idea of sharing an apartment with her. Even if it would be just for a few days.

“Who are we kidding here?” Lina asked, waving her hands through the air again. She sounded amused. “Your band isn’t there yet. Her parents are gone on vacation. She said you were staying at hers..” Her voice trailed off though her last few words made me look up, forgetting to concentrate on driving for a moment.

“She said that?” I asked in disbelieve, trying not to sound too flattered.

“Yes.” Lina said, grinning contently. “What do you think about that?”

I blushed again. Looking back at the road again I pretended having to focus on passing by a slower car and then changing lanes again. Lina waited patiently and I knew I wouldn’t get away from this question without answering it. And also I knew Lina would be able to tell if I just bluntly lied to her. So I decided on the truth. Well kinda..

“That sounds.. fun.” I said after a moment, pretty content with my answer. Sounded believably after all. Lina cocked an eyebrow at me.

“’Fun’ as in I’m-gonna-fuck-her-senseless-fun, or..?”

“LINA!” I almost hit another car, trying to slap her for drawing that much attention to something that wasn’t driving right now.

“Well, I’m just wondering.” She tried to defend herself, raising her voice a little as well, though she couldn’t hide the amusement swinging in it. I sighed loudly and chose not to react to her words. Instead I decided to focus again on taking us home without killing the two of us in the process. Though as hard as I tried to push everything Coco-related out of my head I couldn’t help her name ghosting through my mind.

Thinking about her even though I didn’t want to must have put a deep frown on my face because after a couple of minutes Lina looked up at me with big eyes. Her voice was soft as she spoke. “Did I.. make you mad? I’m really sorry.”

I felt bad right away. “No, it’s okay.” Though she could be a real pain in the ass.

“Oh, okay good. And just so you know.. Coco never.. you know, said you were staying with her.” I cocked my head to the one side, not taking my eyes off the road though. We’ve had enough of that. “I just kinda wanted to see your reaction.” Lina explained apologizing.

“Did I pass the test?” I asked jokingly, trying to lighten up the mood though Lina took it the completely wrong way.

“Yes, you did. I know now that you really like her. So it was okay that I told her that you liked her, this morning.” Lina replied nonchalantly. I chocked on my own tongue, starting to cough while my mind started racing through a marathon. I pulled over.

“Are you trying to get us both killed here, or what?”

Scrollan’s POV:

I was walking through yet another checkpoint at the airport in London, having to show my passport for what felt like the millionth time.

“Welcome home, ma’am.” The young man scanning the bar code on my passport said, giving me a wide grin. I smiled back politely, picked up my bag from the floor and proceeded to go and get my luggage.

When I reached the area with the baggage conveyer belts I had to realize that my flight’s baggage had not been unloaded yet so I leaned against one of the large posts of the room, tapping my food on the floor while waiting. I pulled my phone out of my pocket, turning it on again after having shut it off for the flight. Mindlessly I ran my fingers over the screen while it loaded, remembering that Niall had asked me to text him as soon as I landed. I smiled away as I remembered what he had said to me at the airport in Dublin and the memory of his cute behavior and his ridiculous Irish accent made me grin.

As the phone was done loading I started typing a message for him right away, just quickly letting him know that I landed safely and that I was currently waiting on my luggage. I smiled away thinking about how in three days it would be him – and Liam – here at the airport and how I’d be able to see him again soon enough. I really hadn’t thought I was going to miss him, but the way he had hugged me before going through the security check had stirred up some weird feelings inside of me. It was not that I wasn’t aware of the fact that I had a major crush on him.. But I didn’t want to be.

I went back in my phone to start typing a new message for Lina and Lindsey, when it suddenly rang. Niall’s ID.

“Hi.” I said softly. I was kind of excited for him to call and kind of nervous, too. Was something wrong?

“Hey, princess!” He cheered, causing the excitement to take over. The words made my heart melt right away. “How was you’re flight?”

“Alright, I guess.”

“Did they have good food? I mean, after all I’ll have to take the same flight in a few days, so..”

I laughed. He was just being ridiculous sometimes, even if he was joking. “The food was okay, no worries. And if it’s horrible I’ll treat you with some Nandos next time I see you.”

“So you’re coming to pick me up from the airport then?” He asked laughing and I joined his laughter. Just as I was about to reply something I heard him stir and muffled voices laugh and say something I couldn’t understand. “One second.” Niall excused himself and I heard his voice join the other muffled sounds in the background. I still couldn’t make out what they were talking about. After a moment I heard loud squeals, some other loud sounds and started to wonder what on earth was going on on the other side of the phone line.

“No, no, no!” I heard Niall call silently somewhere in the background. “Give me back the God damn phone.” I chuckled silently, causing a few people to look up at me and I blushed a little, lowering my eyes towards the floor.

“Coco!” A female voice suddenly blurted into the speaker loudly and I almost dropped my phone.

“Lina?” I asked in surprise but I never got an answer. There was more shuffling noises in the background and heavy breathing. Lina squealed again and I heard her laugh being joined by some other boy’s, undoubtedly Liam’s.

“No, Niall!” Lina said sternly all the sudden, stilling for a moment and I heard the noise in the background die down. I pressed the phone closer to my ear trying to hear what was going on over there in Ireland. “You let me talk to her for two minutes, or I’ll tell about the conversation in the car and how you said you-”

“OKAY! Okay.” Niall yelled loudly and I heard Lina snicker into the phone. “But I’m here for three more days, I..” Niall muttered some more words but I couldn’t hear them because all the sudden Lina turned back the phone and I could hear her voice, clearly this time.

“Coco.”

“Hi, Lina. What are you doing with those two boys?” I couldn’t help but snicker away. Lina chuckled as well.

“Ah, nothing too bad. Helped Liam shave his hair again and now I’m trying to get Niall to, well..” Sudden noise in the background and Lina hissed loudly, causing whoever had been starting something – probably Niall – to calm down again and stay quiet. “Let’s say I’m trying to get him to make a decision.”

“Does this have anything to do with what we were talking about this morning at breakfast?” I asked cautiously.

“It does actually. Do you want me to tell him to stop being a coward and just tell you?”

I blushed a deep shade of red, trying to hide my face from the people passing by. “No. Shut up. Is he still in the room?”

“Yes. Sitting right next to me.”

“I’m not on speaker phone, am I?”

“Well, do you want to be?”

“No, gosh no!” I heard Lina snicker. “Just give the phone back to Niall, already.”

“Okay, fine I’ll tell him you want another date with him.” She said loudly, leaving no doubt whatsoever that he heard her. Great. “Here, she said to tell you she loves you.” I heard Lina say next, sounding a little distant already as there was shuffling noise yet again and Niall was back on. How could this get any more embarrassing? I hated Lina.

“Uh, hey.” He said, sounding a little unsure himself.

“Just for the record: I never said that. Neither of those things.” I said hastily, trying to sounds as nonchalantly as possibly – which basically meant not nonchalantly at all, but whatever.

“Oh.” He said sounding a little baffled, followed by a long and ridiculously awkward silence. I could hear him breath into the phone, probably thinking about something to say as eagerly as I was.

“See, uhm. The luggage just got here.” I lied after what felt like forever of silence on the phone. “I think I should-”

“No, of course.” He said right away. “I didn’t want to waste your time.”

“Well, it’s not exactly wasting it.” I said before I could think about my words. “I mean.. I was just, uh, standing here. Waiting. So well, anyways.. uhm.”

“No it’s alright.” Niall said, his voice sounding soft. “You should go.”

“Yeah.”

“Text me when you’re home?”

“Yeah.” I said with relief and heard Niall exhale soundly at the other end of the phone line. “Okay, bye.”

“Bye, princess.”

And with that we hang up. Leaving my stomach oh so fluttery.


	21. Chapter 21

Scrollan’s POV:

I let out a frustrated groan as I pulled the clothes off my body for what felt like the thousandth time. No outfit seemed to be just good enough. “Nothing to wear.” I muttered under my breath in annoyance, wishing I was was back in Ireland so Lina could help me with choosing an outfit. But she was working around this time usually, so I was all by myself forced to sooner or later find an at least acceptable outfit. If not I’d just cancel on Niall.

“No, I can’t cancel. Lina would kill me. And Niall would too. And so would I. Gaaaaah.” Great. Now I was talking to myself which basically was living proof of just how crazy I was and how insane seeing Niall again made me.

He had gotten back to town late last night and we had texted a lot, agreeing on hanging out the next day. I couldn’t ignore the fact that I had been missing him those past days, despite constant texting, talking on the phone and trying really hard not to miss him. Nothing really worked. And it got even worse so, when he had texted me he had landed and first thing I had wished for was for him to come see me right away. Way to go head over heels, girl!, my subconscious hissed at me. Though she was right of course. Niall couldn’t really be into me..

http://www.polyvore.com/first_date/set?id=65544249

I hated the outfit. I absolutely did. But I was already running late, no chance to change again.

Due to my unknowingness of what Niall might like and what not, and since Lina was too busy to help me out I figured I’d make use of the fact that Niall talked about what he liked in girls as his job. I felt ridiculous doing so, but two minutes after stripping down to my underwear one last time I found myself in front of my laptop – yes, still just in my underwear – watching interviews of One Direction. I had seen a couple before, since I had done sort of ‘research’ after finding out about them and Niall being a apart of them and everything. Unfortunately this time the ‘research’ didn’t really help me and I just ended up wasting thirty minutes of my precious time staring at Niall talking about something completely off topic.. at least off the topic I was interested in.

All I had found out that he liked natural beauty in girls – which then again you couldn’t really rely on, since I mean, what else were they supposed to say in those interviews? - but I decided to go light on my makeup anyways and just put back on the clothes I had been wearing previously. It kind of went along with my flat hair hanging down my sides dutifully and not putting me through any more trouble. Thank God!

I took the subway and it only took me a couple of minutes to get to where Niall and I were to meet. It was a rather big square though and as soon as I left the subway station I checked the time quickly and then started to look around for Niall. Walking around I let my gaze wander through the mass of people, hoping I wouldn’t miss him. Or not recognize him. After all he said he was going to ‘disguise himself’ for whatever that mean. And it would have to be good enough of a disguise not to let the fans recognize him. What if I didn’t recognize him? Oh my God! My heart was beating at a pace that sure wasn’t healthy anymore. What if, what if..

I spotted Niall before he saw me. He was leaning against the wall of a house and I saw his beanie peaking up between the people strolling by. It was his favorite one, and I would recognize it anywhere. He wore it practically every day.

The relief over recognizing him that had filled my body soon moved away and made room for another feeling which I would quite put into words yet. Amazement, maybe. Those skinny jeans, his plain gray shirt, the sharp hoodie hanging over his shoulder and the beanie on his head, the sunglasses ergo his disguise, just everything. The feeling was definitely the reason for my jaw - almost literally - dropping open and me drooling – almost literally - for a moment. Pull it together!, I told myself and pushed myself forward to say hi to him. And as soon as my feet were moving my heart got a little too excited and decided to take over.

“Niall!” I blurted out, jumping towards him and into his arms. “Niall.” I said again, quieter this time as he spun me around for a moment, looking a little baffled but pretty content.

“So much for trying not to let people know who I am.” He chuckled into my ear as he let go of me softly. I blushed brightly, starting to apologize but he pressed a finger onto my lips quieting me down. “It’s alright, princess. I think we’re good. Let’s just keep it low from now on, okay?” I nodded and he smiled down at me even wider, still sort of holding me in his arms. Suddenly I felt his breath on my face and the position felt a lot more intimate than it should. Not that it was to my displease.

Niall blinked his eyes twice before shaking his head softly and letting go of my hips, stepping back a little.

“Hmm. That color suits you.” He said tugging on the fabric of my sweater causing my face to turn just about the same color. “In your face as well.” Niall continued, snickering and touching my cheeks lightly, running his hands over the blush not causing it to get any less bright.

I felt like fainting in that moment, not understanding what was going on at all. Did they kidnap and replace Niall? Or did he take some sort of weird pills that Lina secretively snug into his food? Because this right here for sure wasn’t the Niall I had said goodbye to at the airport in Dublin.

Not that I would mind though., I thought as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders pulling me with him and guiding me towards the restaurant he had apparently made reservations in. He had made reservations at a restaurant. I started feeling that this ‘hanging out’ and just casually going to have dinner together was going to be a lot more date-ish than out actual date back in Mullingar had.

And I couldn’t wait for it..

Niall’s POV:

Coco was brushing brightly as I pulled out a chair for her to let her sit down and as she did she shyly brushed her hair back smiling at me from underneath her lashes. I couldn’t help but notice how cute she looked, holding onto her purse for her dear life. For some reason she seemed a lot more nervous than I remembered her.

“You okay?” I asked softly as I sat down across from her reaching out for her hand, caressing her fingers lightly with mine. She nodded slowly, though all color left her face and her body tensed underneath my touch so I reluctantly pulled back my hand. Hm. Weird.

Back in Ireland I had had some good, long conversations with Lina and she had spilled lot more about Coco than she wanted to initially. After all I had convinced her into telling me what exactly Coco had said about me and in exchange I promised her to ask Coco out again, making a real effort to make the date as good as possible. Which now I did. And so far things went pretty well.

Knowing that secretively Coco liked me back – at least a little bit, since one couldn’t really rely on what Lina told you – helped me with my confidence and made me want to go all out. After all we were trying to get somewhere here.

We had ordered our drinks and Coco leaned back in her seat a little, trying to relax. I forced myself to keep the smirk on my face to a minimum, so she wouldn’t get mad.

“So have you talked to you parents yet?” I asked as the waiter brought our drinks.

“Yeah I have.” Coco replied before taking a sip of her water. “We skyped and they showed me the view from the hotel room. I’m really jealous, it certainly looks like they’re having a good time. But I’ll let them have it, they deserve it.”

I grinned. So generous.

“What about the other erm.. boys? Your bandmates? Are they coming home anytime soon?” She asked nonchalantly though I reckoned she was meaning something deeper. I just couldn’t stop grinning tonight.

“Yeah, I talked to them. They’re all coming back on Friday. Probably in the morning. So they can, you know, get back settled in and stuff. Before we go back to work.”

“Oh, yeah.” she said sounding a little distracted.

“So what are you up to now? No more job, no more school. Just enjoy the happy life, or..?”

She grinned at me. “I wish I could! But I don’t think my parents would let me.” I chuckled. Who wouldn’t want that? “Probably college. I mean I already got accepted to three different ones. So, yeah..”

“You never said you got accepted.” I said, a little distracted now myself.

“Well I just now got the acceptance letters when I got back, so..”

“Oh, yes. Makes sense.”

A grin spread across her face and she looked extremely smug for a moment. What was she doing to me?

“Well,” I raised my glass “Congratulations, then.”

“Thanks.” She smiled back shyly, as we clinked glasses and both took a sip.

Almost two hours later we left the restaurant again. I hadn’t quite figured out yet how we had managed to talk and eat for this long, but I had been having a good time so I didn’t complain.

As we stepped outside Coco hooked her arm into mine and we slowly walked arm in arm down the street as I pulled out my sunglasses again to put them on. Coco chuckled from beneath me, tugging on my shirt and causing me to look down.

“What?” I asked softly and her grin only grew wider.

“It’s past eleven thirty.. At night. And you’re wearing sunglasses.” She spoke slowly, as talking to a child and the amusement was evident in her voice. “What’s that for? To impress the ladies?” She continued asking, laughing now.

“Well, does it impress you?” I asked back leaning a bit into her while keeping up the same pace we had been walking before.

She looked lost for words for a moment, opening her mouth to say something but then just closing it again, looking at the ground. She blushed but looked back up, letting me guide her through the streets. “Okay now, what is it really for?”

“Still not trying to get recognized.” I explained with a shrug and she nodded, looking away again. She could be so cute when she was embarrassing herself and then continued talking herself into trouble.

We walked in comfortable silence until we reached the subway station she was taking her train from. I walked her downstairs, waiting with her on the train.

“You sure you don’t want me to come along?” I asked for the tenth time this night, not feeling all that comfortable about letting her stroll around London alone at night.

“That’s just your sneaky way of trying to get me to ask you to come inside.” She said smirking, thinking she got me.

“Well, does it work?”

“No.” She replied right away, causing us both to grin.

“Okay, fine. But text me when you make it home.”

“If..” She said stressing the word creepily and I nudged her in the side. “Oh, come on. I’ve walked around London at night all my life. I think I’ll make it one more night without getting robbed and murdered.”

A cold shiver ran down mine spine, causing me to blush a moment later. I shouldn’t be feeling this protective about her. But somehow I did..

Coco’s head snatched up as the intercom announced her train to be the next. “So, princess..” I started out, pulling her towards me by her belt loops, making her body turn to face me. “Are you gonna let me see you again?”

“Hm.” She said pretending having to think about it for a moment, before she smiled brightly. “I may.”

I grinned back. “How about Wednesday?”

“How about tomorrow?” She asked back, wiggling her eyebrows.

“How about both?”

The train rushed in, slowing down and eventually coming to a stop.

“Sounds lovely.” Coco replied with a smile, motioning for me to call her with a wink and then got onto the train waving one last time before disappearing into a cabin.


	22. Chapter 22

Scrollan’s POV:

„Hi!“ I squealed, stretching the word endlessly as Lina’s face popped up on my computer screen.

“Scrollaaan!” She squealed back, grinning wildly into her own webcam. For a moment we just widely smiled at each other, taking in the other’s excitement. We hadn’t gotten to talk really ever since I had been back, since Lina was busy working a lot of the time. I had texted her a few times, trying to keep her up to date about how things with Niall were going but I knew she wasn’t satisfied with the few information I managed to squeeze into 160 characters, so I prepared myself for a storm of questions.

“How are you?”

“Good! It’s great to be back in London. Missed the rain actually.” I laughed and she ginned fondly. “How’s Ireland?”

“Ah, same old. Nothing really happening here. All my friends emigrated to England.”

I laughed again. “Well, maybe you should have gone with them.”

“Yeah, maybe.” We were still grinning. It just felt so good to finally chat again. “So, tell me now.” She prompted after a moment. “How are things with Niall?” There was the question.

I couldn’t help but smile idiotically and just from the smug look on my face Lina was probably already able to tell most of it. “Good.” I said, my cheeks starting to hurt from the constant smiling.

“Just tell me already! The whole story. I want to know everything.” She said determined. Of course she wanted to know everything.

“Okay, so.. Well I told you that we had dinner together on Monday, right? The day after he got back to London?” Lina nodded. “So, yes. Well.. I don’t really know what to tell you about it. It was really nice. He was kinda.. outgoing? In a good way, though. Like, he put his arm around me and, uh..” Linda was grinning just as widely as me now. “Uhm we made plans for the next day, which would be yesterday. And so we went shopping together. He basically just needed some stuff for the house of whatever. So we went and got that.”

“He has a house?”

“Yeah, I don’t know. It’s kinda confusing. He says he has an apartment, but then he says he’s staying at the house with the boys and then again he says it’s not his home and I don’t know.. I don’t think he really knows where he lives.”

Lina laughed and her eyes grew in disbelieve. “He has an own apartment and then they have a house for the boys to live in together?”

“I guess so.. but I really don’t know. You should ask him about it, if you’re this interested.” What could be this fascinating about somebody’s housing situation?

“Hmm, okay. So well.. Dinner and shopping sounds fun. And then you said he put his arm around you? Any other.. funny business?”

“No funny business.” I said, laughing at the expression.

“Well, he needs to man up.” Lina said shaking her head and I nodded. “I know, right?” She laughed.

“Maybe I’ll talk to him.” She suggested nonchalantly.

“No, you won’t.” I said sternly, glaring at her through the webcam.

“Or I won’t.” She gave in and we both cracked smiles at each other. “Okay, fine. But what’s next? When are you seeing him again?”

I pulled up my phone to check what time it was. “In uh.. an hour and a half.”

Lina laughed. “Today already? Wow. Well, good luck then.”

I grinned back. “Yeah thanks.. Actually, you know. What do you think of this outfit? He invited me over to his, the house I mean, and I don’t really know what we’ll be doing. And no. We won’t just be making out, before you even ask. So yeah.. what do you think? Is this casual enough? While still being pretty?”

http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=65725108&.locale=de

I tried to calm my heart’s rapid beating by taking one last deep breath before stepping one more step towards the large silver gate and ringing the doorbell. Niall had sent me the address of the house and I had taken the car to drive across town but parked in front of the property. Now I was standing in front of the huge gate waiting for Niall – or quietly possibly one of the servants I was expecting from the sheer size of the house – to open it up for me.

I heard a silent buzz and as I pushed open the gate and walked right through I saw Niall’s head pop up at the house’s door a couple of yards away from me. I made my way through the rather small front yard compared to the size of the house. Niall was grinning smugly.

“Hey.” He said pulling me into a hug and I hugged him back, allowing myself to close my eyes for a moment and take in his mesmerizing smell.

“Hi.” I replied as he let go of me and opened the door even wider, motioning for me to enter. I walked past him into the large hallway. Everything looked very classy and not exactly like the bachelor pad I was expecting to walk in on. The colors were light and the shapes were clean cut.

“This is nice.” I said as I slowly kicked off my shoes and pushed them out of the way with my feet, slowly starting to walk through the hallway. “And big. Wow.”

Niall followed me with amusement in his eyes as I wandered into the next huge room, probably the living room. Three large couches were arranged in a half circle, facing a gigantic flat TV hung up on the wall. I set down my bag onto the wooden table in the middle of the room, looking big enough to hold all five of the boys and possibly even guests. I smiled as I turned my head, seeing Niall lean against one of the walls, his arms crossed in front of his chest smiling at me as I looked around the house like a child exploring a candy factory.

“Would you like me to give you a tour?” He asked motioning carelessly around.

I grinned nodding wildly. “Yes, please.”

Niall walked me through the entire house and I just couldn’t stop being amazed about every little detail. The kitchen was large and Niall shared a couple of fun stories about making food with the other four guys and how the almost had set the kitchen on fire twice already. “You wouldn’t necessarily want to trust me with the stove.” He said laughing as his fingers danced mindlessly across it. For some reason I could totally see him set the place on fire. I grinned.

Next he showed me the patio in the back of the house and the backyard which even had a pool. When Niall told me they barely ever swam in it I couldn’t believe how they didn’t used the opportunity of going swimming anytime they liked to, but he just shrugged it off pulling me back inside and up the stairs to show me the rest of the house.

He let me peak into all the boys’ bedrooms ensuring me that the only reason they were clean right now was because they had been gone for so long and their housekeeper had cleaned up for them. There goes the servant., I thought smiling lightly.

As I poked through his room he followed me in my tracks, taking every item I touched out of my hands, giving awkward explanations nonstop. I smiled away. Picking up random items now purposely and in such a quick pace that he couldn’t quite keep up with me. He frowned though he let me go ahead, stopping to interrupt me as soon as he looked through my plan. I couldn’t quite figure out why he had watched over me in the first place because I really didn’t find anything that was worth all the searching. Well, until..

“Hey, don’t take that, I.. No.” Niall jumped up from the bed where he had been sitting, watching me go through his stuff. He snatched the little red book from my hands and pressed it against his chest, holding onto it for his dear life.

I smirked. “Is that your diary, or what?” I asked teasingly, not really expecting an honest answer.

“Kinda.” He said making me look up. As I did he realized what he had said and blushed brightly. “I mean, no. It’s my uhm.. song book. Confidential stuff from the band, you know.”

“Of course.” I said sarcastically, still smirking at him. Though later that day I was to find out he had said the truth..

We finished off the tour around the house and I still couldn’t believe that this wasn’t actually the place where Niall lived, but that he still had his own flat.

“It just gets too crazy with the five of us.” He had said as I had told him that I thought an extra flat was pointless. “I like having some time for myself and the opportunity to just do what I want. I don’t need to pick up my stuff, cause Liam won’t give me crap about it. And I can walk around without fearing to run into a strip-down naked Harry any second of the day.”

I had just nodded, not really agreeing with him. But what did I know still living with my parents?

Niall led me back down into the living room and we flopped onto one of the couches. He sighed. “Okay, what now?” I shrugged and he gazed around the room, looking for something to do?

“Wanna watch a movie?” He asked after a while and I glanced out the window, catching a look at the beautiful weather outside. I really didn’t want to simply stay in, but I neither did I have any good ideas on what to do outside. I would have loved to go swimming in that pool of theirs but I hadn’t brought my bikini and thinking about it I felt like it might have been too cold as well.

“Fine.” I said nodding slightly, still not too convinced.

“Great.” Niall grinned. “You pick. I’m gonna go make some popcorn.” He jumped over the backrest of the couch and the strolled through the room towards the kitchen. I heard him move through the kitchen pulling open some cupboards and pushed myself off the couch to walk over to a large shelf stacked with loads of DVDs. I went through the collection finding a few I had seen and liked. Eventually I decided against a love film, thinking it’d be a) too obvious and b) too cheesy. A comedy should do..

Niall returned – no popcorn with him.

“You ate it all already?” I teased and he poked my rips as he jumped over the backrest again and sat down next to me.

“No?” He looked at me with playful excitement in his eyes. He was such a child. “Still in the microwave.” He sounded bored. “I’ll start the movie and you have to get it!”

I clicked my tongue looking at him and frowning a little. “I always get the hard tasks.” I said but got up to do as he had said. As I left the room I heard him chuckle quietly. My heart skipped a beat. Oh..

It took me some time to find a bowl in the huge kitchen. I had opened all cabinets but still had only managed to find one bowl which I was pretty sure of was a mixing bowl. But since Niall had been too lazy to get the popcorn himself I wasn’t going to let him complain.

Balacing the large and overflowing bowl in my hands I made my way back into the living room and over to the couch where Niall was sitting in the same spot where I had left him. Holding onto the bowl tightly I hopped up a little to jump over the backrest like he had before, though I was not prepared at all for what was to come next.

I landed roughly and defiantly on something harder then the couch cushions. Niall groaned as the bowl went flying and the popcorn spilled over the floor, couch and also over Niall who’s legs were caught underneath me, pulling up now violently. The sudden movement caused me to tip over and crash against Niall chest heavily.

“I’m so sorry.” I said right away, pushing my hands against his chest to steady myself and trying to sit up straight. He groaned again, one of his hands grabbing my left wrist, the other pushing down against the couch. “Oh my God, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” He said weakly, carefully reaching down to touch his knee behind me, while I was still sitting in his lap. I looked down to find his legs spread all over the couch and just now realized that I had jumped right onto them when leaping over the couch. I felt bad, remembering that he had knee troubles. I couldn’t quite remember but thought I read about it on some internet page.

“You okay?” I asked turning back around to face him again, realizing a little late how close I was to his face.

“Yeah.” He nodded, absentmindedly rubbing his chest where I had crashed against it and I put my hand above his, caressing the spot with my own fingers. His breath sped up for a moment and I felt his heart beating faster underneath my touch and I couldn’t help but enjoy it. It somehow relaxed me knowing that maybe, just maybe, I had a similar effect on him as he had on me.

“Did I hurt you bad?” I asked after another moment of silence before taking my hand off his chest and lacing my fingers together.

“Couple of broken ribs maybe.” He joked and nudged me lightly, causing me to press against him unwillingly. “It’ll be fine. Wanna watch the movie now?”

I nodded eagerly and pushed myself up again, careful not to press against his chest this time. Just as I was about to move off his lap and sit down next to him he looked up at me with big eyes. “Where do you think you’re going?” He asked cheekily and pulled me back down by my waist, to sit on his lap and rest my head against his chest.

Oh my God!, I thought my thoughts racing as my head was pressed against Niall’s strong chest raising and lowering with every breath he took. My heart started pounding fast and I had to force myself to breath calmly as the movie started and Niall casually wrapped one arm around my waist, the other one resting on the couch’s armrest. He picked up random pieces of popcorn that landed on either him or the couch and took turns feeding me and him with them.

Maybe it wasn’t too bad that I had accidentally jumped onto his lap. As long as he would let me sit there I’d do almost anything to get back here. It was really nice.

As we watched the movie I felt him stir underneath me a couple of times and I offered to move away every single time but he declined over and over again shaking his head and pulling me close. What more could I have asked for?


	23. Chapter 23

Niall’s POV:

„What do you mean ‘she’s playing with you’? I thought you guys were going out and stuff..” Liam asked in confusion and I frowned deeply as I walked down the stairs in the house, carrying an empty water bottle with me.

“Well, we are. But she’s just.. I don’t know. She’s such a tease!” I tried to explain, waving my hands through the air, though knowing he couldn’t see the motion through the phone.

“Are you sure, you’re being clear though? Maybe you just think you’re giving her hints. Because frankly, Ni, talking to her does not count as giving a hint yet.”

“Liam.” I said in annoyance. “I’m being more than clear.” Angrily I set down the bottle in the kitchen and ripped open the fridge to look for some food.

“Fine, what do you do then?”

I blushed. “Am I really gonna have to explain to you every single step I’m taking with her?”

“You want my help, don’t you?”

I frowned again. Grabbing a yoghurt and kicking the fridge shut with my knee I thought for a moment before realizing that I’d have to tell him eventually anyways. As much as I didn’t want to walk him through every little thing I said or did to Coco, I knew I needed his help because for some reason this was just not working out the way I had planned for it to go.

“Yes.” I had to find a compromise. “Look, it’s just that.. Okay, yesterday for example. I had invited her over and we were watching a movie and I had pulled her onto my lap and it was all very cuddly and cute and I don’t know, I didn’t do anything wrong pretty sure.”

“Have you tried to kiss her?”

“Well.. no. But there really wasn’t a good moment for that.”

“Then how is she supposed to know-”

“I told her!” I interrupted him. He took a moment before he spoke again.

“You what? You told her?”

“Kind of. Basically.”

“Niall?”

I grabbed a spoon and walked out of the kitchen with the yoghurt in my hand. Sitting down at the table and trying to open it with one hand while holding the phone in the other I frowned at Liam’s words. “Okay, fine. I didn’t just say it. But yesterday after we were done watching the movie she asked to go outside. And we sat down on the porch and it was all really nice and I got out my songbook and-”

“The red one?” He interrupted.

“Yeah. With the collection of all the songs. And yeah, basically I kinda sung to her.”

There was a silence and I finally managed to get the lid of the yoghurt and slowly started eating it. Somehow the turn of the conversation made me feel sort of ill.

“What did you sing?”

“Songs from the album.” I replied right away, not understanding where the question was coming from.

“So was it like.. ‘I wanna sing to you about my feelings’ and then you went ahead to sing ‘Little Things’?”

I blushed. “No. More like.. She kind of found the book and wanted to know what was in there. So I told her it were songs and then she made me get my guitar and sing something to her.”

I heard Liam sigh as I put down my spoon, not feeling like finishing the yoghurt. He didn’t say anything for a while and I just waited for him to think things through and then tell me what to do. Though I wasn’t even sure yet if I was actually going to go with his advise. Because after all Liam still was the worst matchmaker on the planet. And of course I had tried talking to the other boys about it, especially Harry since he seemed to get so lucky with the ladies all the time, but all the advise he could give me just didn’t seem to be appropriate for Coco. Somehow she was different in a way that you had to know her to understand her. And so far Liam was the only one that did know her so I had to rely on him.

“Nialler?”

“Hmm.” I listened up, turning my head a little as I pushed myself off the chair, turning my attention back to Liam. As he spoke I picked up the half eaten food and the spoon to return them to the kitchen.

“I think you should just tell her. Or kiss her. Either of this is going to get your message across. Maybe you’re being too subtle or she just doesn’t get it or doesn’t know how to respond to it. I don’t know, she got me stumped.”

I dropped the spoon. Great. This was most definitely not what I wanted to hear. “Liam, I can’t just.. She’s gonna kill me.”

“Or she’s gonna kiss you.”

Liam’s words were on my mind all day. He was right. If I never just went for it and told Coco how I really felt about her, we would just stay friends forever and I would most certainly end up regretting not saying anything when the time had been right. And the time was right now, I knew it. So far, so good.

The only problem left was that there was no way on earth that I was just going to walk up to her and say “Hey Coco, I know I never really said this before but I wanted you to know that you’re on my mind all the time, I’m crazy about you and I want you to date me.”, let alone just forcing her into a kiss. But Liam’s plan didn’t go beyond that so I realized I had to turn to somebody else to get help with this problem. Harry.

I hadn’t really told him to whole story about Coco yet and I wasn’t planning on doing it right now either, so as we spoke in the phone I just quickly explained to him the issue at hand saying I needed to find a way to tell her how I felt.

“You’re being kind of cute, when you’re all over that girl.” Harry commented with amusement in his voice and I made a face but didn’t say anything. “And I’m glad you got yourself figured out. But I don’t quite see yet where your problem is. Why don’t you just tell her?”

“Well, what if she says no?”

“I thought you said she was all over you?”

“Well..” I sighed. “Liam says so. And I somehow think she likes me too. But I don’t know if she wants to, you know, date me. Because I know I wouldn’t.”

Harry laughed. “Okay, now. Don’t be this hard on you. If she says no, she’s a fool. We’ll ditch the dirt on her via Twitter and then I’ll take you to go party. Sound like a plan?”

I chuckled though to me this really wasn’t a option. “If she says no, none of those things will happen because I will die of shame first.”

“Nonsense!” Harry laughed. “Get yourself liquored up if that helps..”

I took Harry’s advise. Or I at least planned on taking his advise. Though I decided to ring up Coco first, because there really was no point in getting wasted if she wasn’t free tonight anyways.

“Hmm, Scrollan speaking.” She mumbled as she picked up the phone and I laughed at her husky and sleepy voice.

“Hey, princess! It’s me, Niall. Did I wake you?”

“Hm.” She hummed in response and I laughed again. It was past noon already.

“You’re such a sleepy head!” I said amused.

“I was tired.” She tried to explain, sounding a little grumpy and making me smile.

“Do I have to come over and drag you out of your bed?”

“Don’t you dare! And besides.. you don’t even know where I live.”

We playfully fought for a little longer and her voice was turning normal as we spoke and her answers got sassy but cheeky as always. It was lovely. She was lovely.

After a few more minutes of casual talking I decided to put my plan – well, Harry’s plan – into action. Or at least the set up for it.

“So, uh, what are you up to tonight?”

“Can’t go 24 hours without seeing me, can you, Nialler?”

“Nope.” I said, letting the ‘p’ pop and she laughed. “But neither can you. So let me take you out for drinks.”

She agreed to go get drinks together!

I texted Harry excitedly as soon as I ended the call with Coco. I was through the roof, sort of expecting things to really work out this time. It didn’t take Harry long to reply.

Of course she did. You’re a fucking fireball of Irish adorableness. Good luck mate!

I laughed at his words and tossed my phone away as I flopped face forward onto the couch in the living room, hugging the pillows I was laying on. Sudden energy and excitement flushed through my body and much to my dismay I realized that these feelings probably were caused by endorphins or adrenalin accidentally leaked by my love drunk brain. And that was also when I realized that if Coco said no to the proposition I had to make that I was in deep shit.

Later that day when I had just gotten out of the shower and pulled a fresh white button up shirt over my shoulders I was taking deep breaths trying to calm myself. I needed to relax if I wanted tonight to go anywhere but straight into a mental breakdown. And as I pulled on more clothes and did my hair I was satisfied to feel myself calm down. Somehow it didn’t seem as bad anymore. Maybe Liam was right and Coco liked me back and after tonight I would be laying in the same bed as her and getting rid of the sexual tension that had been building up inside of me ever since I had gotten back to London.

If only then I had known how right I was..

Two hours later Coco and I were sitting in a bar together. She sat across from me, laughing beautifully while her lips tried to catch the straw of her cocktail. She glanced up at me from underneath her lashes and as her lips found the straw and started sucking on it something deep down in my stomach clenched and made me feel sick for a moment. Her happy blabbering distracted me.

“You didn’t really say that, did you?”

“Yes, I did.” I said grinning mildly. Her eyes grew wider.

“No you didn’t! Nobody says that. Not to the Queen.”

“But I did!”

“You are such a goofball and you most certainly did not say that to the Queen! Stop joking with me, Niall.”

I raised my hands and stared at her in disbelieve. “I really did say that.” Coco glanced back up at me, the smug expression on her face giving away that she still didn’t believe a word of what I was saying. Fine, whatever..

“Can I get you two anything else?” A young waiter asked as he passed by our table in the front of the bar and we ordered another – the third - round. Much to my dismay I noticed the waiter winking at Coco cheekily before turning to leave and Coco looking after him as he swiftly walked away.

“You’re drooling a little there.” I said trying to tease her, though I knew she could probably tell I was pouting.

“You’re a little jealous there.” She responded, mimicking my words and grinning widely. I couldn’t help but smile and feel a little relieved as she turned her full attention back towards me.

“Maybe. Justifiably.”

Coco laughed. “Oh, no worries. I’m all yours, babe.” She said still grinning as she took the last sip of her cocktail and then turned around to see where the waiter was with the drinks we had ordered. I blushed lightly at her words, starting to realize that the alcohol was now effecting both of our brains.

“There you go, honey.” The waiter said as he returned with a sweet smile and set down the drinks in front of us. “Anything else I can do for you, love?” He asked now looking directly at Coco. She glimpsed at me quickly and then smiled back at the waiter politely, telling him we were fine for now. He winked at her one last time before he left.

I tried to ignore him and not to make a big fuss about him but I couldn’t deny that he annoyed the crap out of me. This was my date. He better went to find himself his own girl. And it better wasn’t mine.

“Relax.” Coco said with a smile on her face, stirring the straw trough her drink causing the ice cubes to cling against the glass loudly. I looked her in the eyes and though she seemed to take a little longer to focus on me, I knew she could tell what was going on in my mind.

“I am. Totally relaxed.” I said, stiffing my shoulders as I spoke. How ironic. Coco called my bluff and started nudging my foot with hers underneath the table. In a strange way the gesture was oddly comforting and really helped calming me down.

“See?” She asked after a few moments had passed, leaning towards me over the table. “I’m not playing footsie under the table with him, am I?”

I laughed, chocking a bit on my drink and then blushed a little as she grinned at me happily. She definitely was a little tipsy now, I could tell. Not that I would have minded though, she was being fun. And flirty. Actually, she was being her normal friendly and adorable self, just multiplied by ten and so much more desirable.

Just before midnight we had left the bar and Coco had been seriously drunk. It really hadn’t felt as bad inside, but as soon as we had stepped outside and she had taken in a couple of deep breaths of the cold night air, she had grabbed my hand to steady herself in leaned into me, her head sleepily resting on my shoulder.

I chuckled at how funny she looked trying to orientate herself. “Okay, which way did we come from?” She asked, speaking surprisingly clearly, though stumbling dangerously as soon as she let go of my hand.

“Hold on.” I said grabbing her hand again and standing close to her so she wouldn’t tremble.

“Oh hi.” She said slowly as she turned around to face me. She giggled leaning her face into mine for a moment and then pulled back, blinking her eyes. I could smell her breath, sweet and alcoholical but so her in a way that it was creepy. How did I even know what her breath smelled like?

“You really can’t let go of me, can you?” She asked teasingly, poking my chest with her fingers. “It’s alright.” She waved off though before I even got the chance to say anything. Not that I would have known what to say anyways.

“Alright, let’s get you home.” I said, starting to walk slowly, dragging her with me. The way she stumbled back and forth, taking turns in bumping into my shoulders and tugging on my hand in order not to trip, made me chuckled and she looked up at me. “You fine, love?” I asked as her eyes grew wider the longer she looked at me. We had slowed down.

“Well, I guess.” She said looking like she was caught up in her thoughts. “I just really don’t feel like walking home.”

I sighed but laughed as she started pouting like a little child. “Okay, c’mere.” I said as I turned around and flung her arms over my shoulders to grab them. “Jump on three.” I ordered and as soon as she did as I told her to, I locked my hands underneath her thighs, giving her a piggy-back ride.

“Hold on to my shoulders.” I advised her as I slowly started walking. She chuckled quietly as she grabbed my shoulders tightly and leaned forward, her head right next to mine. Our cheeks were rubbing together and yet again I could smell her sweet breath, catching myself wondering what it would taste like. I blushed, scowling at even thinking of her that way when she was drunk as she was. Many guys probably would have taken advantage of her, but I didn’t. I was a nice guy.

“Where are we going?” She asked sleepily as I took a turn around a corner into a rather dark alleyway.

“Well, do you know where you live?” I asked slightly amused as I kept walking and felt her fingers dig deeper into my shoulders.

“Of course I do.” She slurred. “At my house.”

I chuckled. “That’s what I thought.” I muttered under my breath, not thinking she would hear it and then added loudly “We’re going to mine.”

“The house?”

“Yes.”

“Am I spending the night?” She sounded like she was almost asleep already.

“Yes.”

“Okay.” She muttered against my cheek.

When we reached the house I struggled to get inside without dropping her. I somehow managed to hold onto her with only one hand and then fiddle out the keys from my pocket and to walk her up the stairs into Liam’s room. I didn’t want to make her sleep in my room, so she wouldn’t get the wrong impressions and I figured Liam was the next closest to her. Also he wouldn’t mind it anyways.

I sat down on the edge of his bed, untangled her legs from my waist and her arms from around my shoulders. She grumbled something as she crawled onto the bed sleepily.

“Scrollan?” I asked, running my hand over her forehead. “Wake up, baby.”

“What?” She groaned in annoyance, barely opening her eyes.

“We’re at the house now. I need you to stay awake for just one more moment, okay? I’m gonna get you some water from the kitchen. And an apple as well, alright? Bear with me, here. I’ll be right back.”

“Hmm, whatever.” She slurred sleepily and I somehow doubted she would still be awake when I returned.

I had been right, but the peaceful imagine of her sleeping soundly on Liam’s large bed made me smile. I set down a large bucket in front of the bed and a bottle of water along with an apple onto the bedside table.

“Coco.” I said, stroking her hair. “Wake up, princess. Wake up.” I tried to keep my voice calm and soft, though I had to wake her. Which she wasn’t happy about. I managed to get her to sit up and take a sip of the water.

“Why eat the apple? ‘M not hungry.” She protested, but I held the apple up high in front of her face, lightly pressing it against her lips.

“Your body needs some vitamin C. Believe me, in the morning, you’re going to thank me.” I explained, trying to get her to hold the apple herself.

“Doubt that.” She muttered, but took a bite of the apple which she still refused to hold on her own. I smiled as she chewed.

“Does your head hurt?” I asked as I ran the back of my hand past Coco’s forehead again, feeling the temperature. She was hot. Not just in one way. The alcohol was doing its best – or worst, depending on how you saw it - on her. She nodded as she took another bite from the apple and chewed again, slower this time.

“Here.” I placed the apple in her palm. “Let me get you some ibuprofen, so you can sleep.” I got up and left the room to go to my own bathroom, which I knew I kept some medicine there. After looking around the room for a moment I finally found the little white package and grabbed it, reading the description on the back while walking back into Liam’s room.

I entered the door and slowly walked in, stopping somewhere in the middle of the room, still starring down at the box, reading something about the effect of alcohol consume on its efficiency when something else caught my attention. Jeans. Girl’s jeans. On the floor. And when they were on the floor that meant they weren’t on-

I looked up. Coco sat on the bed, her legs crossed and she slowly started unbuttoning her blouse. I looked down right away again.

“Coco? Why’d you, uhm, take your pants off?” I tried really hard not to think about the black lace panties I had just seen, but I could feel myself harden already. Jesus, I really needed some relieve. Coco never answered my question but instead she asked me to come help her with the buttons on her blouse.

Reluctantly I looked back up, forcing my eyes to stay fixed on her face as I walked closer. Fortunately she was wearing a basic tank top underneath the blouse so when I pulled it off her shoulders she was still – kind of – covered.

“Let me tug you in.” I said pulling up the blanket from the foot of the bed and covering the naked skin of her legs. Much better already. I felt my breath steady again as I lost eye contact with the quite possibly sexiest underwear I had ever seen. Or maybe Coco was just quite possibly the sexiest girl I’d ever seen. Especially half naked.

“Okay, uhm.” I straightened my pants, trying to hide the growing bulge as I got up. “I should go now. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“You’re not staying here?” She asked, her eyes growing wider.

“Well, you should get some sleep and I was thinking..” I rambled myself into trouble. Coco pulled me back down by the hand, making me lay down next to her. I propped myself on one elbow and looked down at her, stroking some strands of her hair out of her face. Even though I knew she was drunk and her eyes had trouble staying focused on my face, the position felt incredibly intimate, – quite literally – giving me a hard time (pun fully intended).

She seemed to be dozing in and out of sleep, opening and closing her eyes sleepily at times. I kept letting my fingers dance mindlessly across her face, tugging on her hair and just caressing the skin. She stirred a little underneath the touch and as I pulled my hand a away a little she went to grab it instead, holding onto my fingers tightly.

“You’re really.. beautiful.” She said, sounding incredibly clear and I forced myself not to react. She didn’t mean it.

“You’re drunk.” I replied after a long silence, trying to hide my disappointment about that fact.

“Yes.” She replied almost instantly, her fingers still around my hand. “But tomorrow I’ll be sober, and you’ll still be beautiful.” Her words wanted to tear my heart apart, make it explode and shatter into a million pieces. That were just too many things that I had been dying to hear her say. Too much for my brain to take in one night.

I let go if it, not replying to her. For one because I didn’t know what to say, but for the other, also because I didn’t want to let myself get my hopes all the way up already and then being broken when finding out that all she had said tonight after all was only her drunken blabbering.

Sometime later I realized that Coco had fallen asleep next to me and I looked at her peaceful slumber for another moment before carefully pushing myself off the bed. As I did and walked across the room to turn off all the lights I felt my now pretty hard erection rubbing against my tight pants. So as I shut Liam’s bedroom’s door and shortly afterwards entered mine I decided to take a quick shower to take care of what Coco had left me with. Though disappointed I had to note that this wasn’t the kind of release of sexual tension I had been rooting for.


	24. Chapter 24

Louis’ POV:

I had trouble climbing out of the cab with a drink in my one hand and my phone in the other while trying to go through some emails. Sighing in annoyance I locked the phone, slipping it into my back pocket quickly and climbing out easily now. I went to stand with the cab driver who had pulled up in front of the house me and the other boys from the band lived in. He opened the trunk and got my two bags out, setting them on the ground. I handed him some money and said a few polite words before he drove off. Just as I was about to bend down to grab my bags my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out.

“Hm, yeah?” I asked trying to somehow get the slim phone stuck between my ear and shoulder as I bend down towards my bags again.

“Louis.” A male voice said. “It’s me, Paul.”

I sighed as I slowly started walking towards the gate in front of the property, setting down the bags to search for the keys. “Hey, Paul.” I said lamely, not too excited about the fact that I hadbarely gotten off the plane, wasn’t even back for a minute and already got the first call from out security manager.

“You sound stressed. Are you alright, Louis?” He asked and I just hummed in response before he rambled on. “I reckon you read the email about the radio interview tomorrow morning? I’m just calling to remind you and also make sure you’re all making it back to London safely.”

“Just reached the house.” I confirmed walking through the front yard, balancing my bags a little awkwardly on my arms.

“Oh, good. Niall should be there anyways. But I’m pretty sure Harry’s back already as well.”

“Okay.” I said and after a few more words I ended the call and unlocked the door, pushing it open with my foot. Walking in I set my bags down on the ground and pushed my phone back into my pocket.

“Zayn?” I heard Liam call loudly from somewhere of the back of the house.

“No, it’s me, Louis.” I replied loudly as I shrugged off my hoodie.

“Don’t even dream about leaving your stuff laying around. Bring your bags up and then come to the kitchen, we’re making breakfast.” He yelled and I sighed. There goes Daddy Direction. I bent down to pick up my bags, my hoodie and the shoes I had kicked off carelessly. Somehow I managed to gather all the items in my arms and walked up the stairs quickly, not wanting to drop anything. Wouldn’t want to have to make two trips.

Reaching my room I kicked it open and dropped all my stuff on the bed, not caring about putting any of them away. Liam would scold me for it later but I didn’t care. Before I left my room I pulled my phone out of my pocket and plugged it in to the charger on the wall, setting it down on my bedside table.

I walked out of my room and through the hallway where all the bedrooms were. Niall’s room’s door was wide open and his stuff was scattered everywhere. He definitely had been here for a few days already. Peaking into Harry’s room I had to note that it wasn’t much cleaner either, though I knew the boy hadn’t returned long before me. Zayn’s room’s door was closed and I figured he wasn’t even at the house yet so I just strolled past his room towards the staircase, the smell of bacon and eggs luring me downstairs to the kitchen.

On my way there I passed Liam’s room and I never would have bother even going in there, but the door was opened a little bit and from the corner of my eye I saw something that seemed to be out of place. Quietly walking back towards the door and glancing into the room my jaw dropped open. There was a girl in Liam’s bed. The long blond hair laid messily spread across the pillows and her entire body was curled up, facing away from me. The blanket only covered most of her torso and her long, naked legs were exposed making me swallow hard.

“Liam! There’s a naked girl in your bed!” I exclaimed as I walked into the kitchen with my hands above my head, still very confused about what I had just seen. Three pairs of eyes turned to look at me in shock.

“Wait, what? We have naked girls here and nobody told me?” Harry asked right away, his mouth hanging open in disbelieve.

“What the hell, Niall?” Liam asked loudly over Harry’s words turning towards the blond Irish boy. He looked just as surprised as I was, hearing Liam cuss. “She’s naked? Naked! You said nothing happened!”

“But really, nothing happened!” Niall tried to defend himself. “Last time I saw her she was wearing a top!”

“What on earth is going on here?” I asked interrupting the two, trying to make sense of their words. “Who’s is she?”

“Niall’s!” Liam exclaimed pointing at the boy sitting across from him, seemingly getting smaller under the accuse.

“Well, while you all fight I think I’m gonna go upstairs and take care of her if she’s naked.” Harry said grinning smugly, already out of his seat.

“You. Sit. Down.” Niall pressed through clenched teethes, grabbing Harry’s wrist. We all looked at him in surprise. As he felt our gazes on him he let go of Harry’s wrist, still frowning deeply and watching him as if he was ready to attack him any moment if only he dared to get up again. Okay, Niall..

“Calm, Ni.” Liam said, looking a little scared himself. “Nobody’s gonna touch Coco.”

Ahhh! “So that is your Irish girl?” I asked finally understanding what was going on. Niall frowned, explaining that she still wasn’t Irish. It took some time to get him to stop rambling but after a lot of calming him down we finally managed to get him to tell us the whole story.

“.. Well and because she was so drunk I decided to take her home with me to take care of her. Nothing happened, really. I wouldn’t have done that, you know?” He finished after a while and we nodded. As the door swung open and a chuckling Zayn walked in we all looked up.

“Oh, hey guys.” He said a little distracted, almost sounding surprised to meet us all in the kitchen. He turned around once more looking towards the hallway, chuckling again. “So since when do we have pantless girls sneaking around our house?”

“Okay, okay!” Niall groaned in annoyance before any of us could say another word. “She’s mine. I know she’s not wearing pants. I’ll go take care of her, okay? Jeez, stop acting like you’ve never seen panties before.” He got up, walking around the counter and grabbing two cups of coffee as we other glanced at each other. I had a hard time trying to hide the smirk forcing its way onto my lips.

Niall kept rambling a load of cusswords as he made his way across the room and out the door, saying something about all of being a “shower of cunts” which earned him an angry glare from Liam. When he had left the room was silent and we all stared at each other for a moment, the smug grins slowly creeping onto our faces.

“Now, in my professional opinion,” Harry started out “that boy needs to get laid.” We laughed and then finally turned our attention towards the breakfast Liam and Harry had been making.

Scrollan’s POV:

I laid in Liam’s bed, my face hidden in the pillows, muffling the silent sobs escaping my lips. I was so done with everything around me and I felt so tired and exhausted, wanting to die on the spot. I hated myself. Why did I have to be this embarrassing? Why did I have to ruin all my chances with Niall?

I had woken up this morning feeling sick and nauseous and wondering what the sound was that had woken me. Turning over I realized that somebody had just left the room and that the door was opened a little bit. Realizing that I wasn’t in my own room I panicked for a moment, fearing that I had been raped and kidnapped, but relaxed soon enough when I recognized the room as Liam’s room and let my head rest down onto the pillows.

As I lay in silence for a moment and closed my eyes, remembering the past night I really wished I had just forgotten. But I remembered. Every little bit. From the innocent and fun flirting with Niall at the bar to the piggy-bag ride home and me undressing in front of him. Me telling him that he was beautiful. Oh God, what was wrong with me?

I pressed my eyes shut and my palms against my temples, trying to rub some sense into my brain. I needed to come up with a plan on how to explain to Niall what had happened the night before. I couldn’t just let it pass. And out of nowhere the most genius idea of my entire life came to me. Say I forgot! I would just pretend to not remember anything from the night before.

After a few minutes of perfecting the plan and calming my racing heart I decided to make my way downstairs to find Niall and talk to him. Casually, of course. Acting like nothing had happened at all. But when I walked down the stairs I had to find that my plan wasn’t going to be working quite the way I had imagined it to. As I crept towards the kitchen door left ajar, I heard voices talk loudly and stopped, listening closely.

I recognized Niall’s voice and it didn’t take me long to understand that he was talking about me. About last night. I blushed even though I knew no one could see me. I pressed me my body closer towards the door, careful not to touch it and cause it to move as Niall continued “.. Well and because she was so drunk I decided to take..”

“Uhm, hi?” I jumped as somebody tapped on my shoulder. I flinched but luckily didn’t make a sound, biting down on my lip harshly. Looking at the person standing behind me I recognized the tall boy from pictures I had seen. The tall black quiff, the tanned skin and the features many people would consider attractive left no doubt that I had just met Zayn. But instead of forming sensible sentences my brain made me panic.

I squealed, realizing that I still was only in my panties and my tank top, turning on my heels and rushing back up the stairs. I heard him chuckle behind me as I reached the last step and bolted for Liam’s room right away. My entire body went tense as I curled back up onto the bed.

And here I was now. In Liam’s bed again, staining his sheets with my mascara. I cried. I cried over how pathetic I was. I cried over how big of a coward I was and how I always managed to screw up everything. I cried over the past night and feeling bad right now, but not as bad as I should. I cried over remembering how Niall made me eat that apple so I wouldn’t feel as sick. I cried over how right now I was feeling sick in a way that Niall couldn’t have prevented me from. And I cried over crying. It didn’t feel like I could ever stop.

I was thankful for laying with my back towards the door when a knock on the only half closed door made me listen up, trying to suppress more subs from escaping my lips. Fortunately I managed to stay quite, though the sobs still forced my shoulders to shake violently and whoever had entered the room couldn’t miss the fact that I was crying. As I dug my face deeper into the pillows I heard a pair of feet shuffle across the room and then a muffled sound of something being set down onto the bedside table.

Feeling weight dip down the mattress next to me, and soft hands stroking over my back made me cry out loud again. “Hey, hey, hey.” Niall soothed, bending down towards me and making my worst nightmare come true. Niall shouldn’t be here. He shouldn’t be seeing me like this. His hands kept running up and down my spine, leaving goosebumps on my skin and making it so hard for me to speak. I cried in silence for a moment as Niall let his hands do - what he probably considered - soothing work, but in fact drove me nuts on the inside.

“Go a-a-away.” I managed to croak out followed by a few loud sobs and I felt Niall’s hand still on my back.

“Uh.” He began to speak, but I just shook my head, still not looking at him. Even without seeing his face I knew I had hurt him. He really didn’t mean his actions in a mean way, but right now just wasn’t the right time. I needed room.

“Please, j-just.. g-go.” I stuttered, my voice shaking with sobs.

“Are you sure you-? I don’t wanna- .. Would you like to speak somebody else maybe?” He tried, his hands still resting on my back.

“L-iam.” I said roughly, knowing he wouldn’t leave me all by myself. And in a way I was thankful for that. Though in this moment I didn’t really know yet what to say to Liam. Because first of all I would have to sort out my own brain.

“Okay.” Niall said quietly. “I’ll go get him.” He let his hands run up my back to rest on my shoulders for a moment before I felt him bend down towards me and place a soft kiss onto the exposed skin of my shoulder blade. His hot breath lingered on the sensitive skin for a moment before he pushed himself off the bed and was gone.

It took me a while to realize that I had stopped crying. I rolled over on my back in surprise looking up at the sealing and blinking my eyes a few times to get rid of the last tears stains. Niall just kissed me. On my shoulder. On my naked skin. And – oh my – the skin was burning now. Holy Jesus Christ. This was just too much for my brain. Resting my hands across my eyes silent tears started running down my face again. And they got more as I realized I was crying. I was angry. Angry at myself for crying. Something good just happened to you!, I wanted to scream at myself. Why the fuck are you crying?

Liam interrupted my inner battle when he knocked on the door quietly. I turned my head to look at him for a moment, but then I realized that I was crying and that I had asked for him even though I barely knew him and that he was a famous popstar and that he sure had better stuff to do than to deal with emotional teenage girls. And as all those facts crashed onto my brain, more tears started filling my eyes and I looked away from him, rolling onto my stomach again and pulling the covers up over my head. I wanted to die.

“Oh God, Coco.” Liam said, sounding a little amused but mostly sympathetic. “Ah, c’mon. Don’t cry like that.” He sat down onto the bed where Niall had been sitting before, stroking my back like Niall had before. A shiver ran down my spine. He sat with me in silence for some time, while I tried to control my breathing, preventing myself from starting to sob all over again.

“So..” He started out after another long silence, stroking strands of my hair out of my face. My cheek was pressed against the pillow underneath but as Liam pulled back some of my hair he got a look at the right side my face, leaning over my torso a little to catch my eyes. He touched my blushed cheeks and wiped away some tears, smiling encouragingly with warm eyes. “Why are you even crying?”

I shrugged, swallowing hard. It really wasn’t very easy to explain.

“Are you.. feeling sick? Hungover, maybe?” I shook my head, though I was of course. But that really wasn’t what kept me crying.

“Well, then.. did anything happen.. between you and, uh, Niall? That I should know about?” I shook my head again. “Do you even remember?” I frowned, looked up at him and managed to roll my eyes at him as I nodded. He smiled.

“Good. Then what is it?”

“I..” I said huskily, coughing a little. “I-I.. I had him carry me home. And then I was so drunk. And I took my pants off. And my blouse. And I told him he was beautiful. And I made him lay in bed with me. And.. I don’t even know where to stop.”

Liam cocked his head to one side, pulling his eyebrows up as he looked down at me listening to my rant. “Quite frankly I don’t think Niall minded any of those things..”

“But it’s so embarrassing.” I protested, turning my head a little further so I could look at Liam. “I don’t even wanna know what Niall thinks about me now.”

“What he thinks about you now? He’s still crazy about you. Probably even more than he was before. The only thing he will probably be pissed about is the fact that you went for a full on strip in front of him and he couldn’t let himself enjoy it.” I blushed brightly. “I don’t think it was easy for him not to cheer you on.”

I rolled over again, hiding my face in the pillows. Liam really wasn’t making it a lot better right now.

“Judging from your reaction.. I probably shouldn’t have said that.” He concluded after a moment and I smiled into the pillows at his silliness.

“Captain Obvious strikes again!” I teased him, my voice muffled from the pillows.

“Hey now!” He said, playfully offended. “You should be glad I even came to talk to you. Because, well honestly, the past has shown that I’m not so very smooth with women and relationships.”

“Nonsense.” I said, turning over again. “And also, you’re only here to give me the pep talk, not to date me.”

“I know. That’s what the Irish is for.”

I slapped his thigh but the smug expression on his face wouldn’t falter. “I hate you, Liam.” I said semi angry. “You’re like no help at all.”

“Well, what do you want me to do?”

“I don’t know! I thought that’s what you were here for.”

“Nah, I’m just here for the pep talk.”

I frowned at him deeply, hating him for turning my own words against me. He grinned away happily and I was kind of thankful for that because our little banter had managed to distract me from the problem at hand.

“You wanna go meet the other boys?” Liam asked out of the blue, shifting a little to sit cross legged in front of me.

“Hell, no!” I said right away and he made face – at either the swearing or my strong dislike of his idea; or at both. “Sorry, Liam but look at me.” I motioned towards my face. “My face looks like the bottom side of a gully cover.”

“What?” He asked laughing and rolling his eyes. “No it doesn’t. Let me put it in Niall’s words:” He leaned forward fluttering his eyelashes sillily. “’You’re beautiful as the rising sun, just as every day.’”

“Liam James Payne!” I hissed, pushing against his chest and he laughed loudly. “You either behave yourself or I’ll kick you out.” He didn’t stop laughing.

“Kick me out? We’re in my room, love.” He said in between chuckles, causing me to pout away as he kept laughing uncontrollably.

Liam’s POV:

After I had managed to calm Coco down enough to make her fall asleep again I sat on the edge of her bed a little longer, watching her eyes twitch a little as she dreamed. Hopefully she wasn’t going to wake up anytime soon again. I had figured that the main reason for her little breakdown earlier probably had been sheer exhaustion. Talking to her and joking with her I had found out a little more of what had gone down at the bar and here last night, though there wasn’t really anything interesting to be told. Like Niall had said earlier nothing had happened. Probably for the best.

Coco rolled over in bed, away from me and I adjusted the blanket over her shoulders a little bit before pushing myself off the bed. I stood still for a moment and then pulled the curtains in front of the windows shut, trying to take away some of the sunlight that might be stealing precious sleep from her. She hummed quietly and I smiled at the content noise.

Careful not to make any sounds I exited the room, closing the door with caution. When the lock clicked shut I let out a breath I hadn’t known I had been holding. A cough made me turn around. Niall sat on the floor, his back resting against the wall across from the door.

“Hey.” I said, still speaking quietly though for no apparent reason.

“How- How is she?” He asked sounding a little hoarse himself motioning towards the door I had just closed.

“She’ll be fine.” I said with a smile walking over to Niall and offering him a hand. “You should join me for some tea in the kitchen.”


	25. Chapter 25

Scrollan’s POV:

I woke up again two hours later to find the room in complete darkness. Looking around a little disorientated for a moment I soon realized that somebody had closed the curtains. The alarm clock on the bedside table let me know that it was almost noon. Frowning I let my head sink back down onto the pillows.

Closing my eyes I was surprised by how good I felt, compared to just a few hours ago. Liam had been right, I needed some more sleep. Though of course my problems weren’t just gone now. My stomach turned at the thought that I’d have to go and face Niall and also the other boys that I hadn’t even met yet rather soon. What would they be thinking? First time they see me I’m super hungover, having some sort of mental breakdown. Yey.

But what did I care about the other boys? I should be thinking about Niall and caring about what he thought. And Liam had said Niall wouldn’t mind. So for once I was just hoping that Liam was right, because there really wasn’t anything else that I could do. The damage was done so now I was just hoping for the best.

I slit out of bed, feeling like I needed to move and couldn’t lay down any longer. I rubbed my palms against my thighs, trying to warm them. Just now I realized how cold I had been, sleeping with no pants on during the night and slipped back into my jeans right away. I didn’t dare taking another look at the mirror and just grabbed my purse from the floor, planning on making a run for the front door, trying to avoid talking to anyone. I could always text Niall later on and explain to him that I had been feeling sick or something.

Very carefully I opened the door of Liam’s room and peered out, turning my head to look both ways down the hallway. It was empty as expected and also there were no sounds coming from any of the rooms, so I figured I’d easily get down the stairs.

I tiptoed down the steps, listening carefully for any sounds. As I took a turn I heard faint sounds from the living room, too quite to come from five boys. Against better knowledge I snuck by the living room door to peer in and to my surprise I only found one of the boys. Liam. He was sitting on one of the couches by himself, flicking through shows on the TV, chewing on a chocolate bar.

“Oh.” I said, surprised to find him by himself. As soon as I realized that I had made a sound I wanted to slap myself, because of course Liam had heard. He turned around.

“You going anywhere?” He asked with a smirk on his face as he turned down the volume of the TV. I froze in my tracks looking down at my hands awkwardly, not knowing what to do. For a moment I thought about just bolting out the front door but then I fortunately realized that this probably would have been the most embarrassing thing to do at the moment.

As I didn’t speak Liam grinned even wider and motioned for me to come closer, petting the cushion beside him. “C’mere.” I nervously fiddled with the purse in my hands but did as he said and slowly walked across the room.

“Would you like some tea?” He asked as I sat down onto the couch and I shook my head lightly. “Are you feeling better then?”

I nodded, still not feeling comfortable. “Where are the others?” I asked quietly, looking around the room.

“Ah, they’re out shopping I guess.” He said relaxing back into the couch, pulling his legs onto the cushions as well. I calmed a little as well, knowing that Niall wouldn’t just walk in right now. I could face him later. It made me wonder though why Liam didn’t go with them. Before my brain could come up with the weirdest explanations, Liam spoke again, as if reading my mind. “They said I couldn’t come. So I’m thinking it’s probably for my birthday.. It’s not today.” He added as he saw the panic creep up in my eyes.

“Oh, good. I was afraid I ruined your birthday.”

He smiled warmly. “Hey, you’re not ruining anything.” I blushed. “You’re just stirring up everyone here a little bit. It’s fun though, don’t worry. The others can’t wait to meet you.” I blushed even more. “I’m serious, though. We had to lock Harry in his own room so he wouldn’t go sneak peak in mine.. Probably wasn’t too smart of Louis to tell him that you were almost naked. Oh well, it just got Niall really jealous and angry I guess.” I wanted to die on the spot. “Yepp, pretty interesting morning we had here.” Liam concluded from his little rant and then looked up at me again, his expression changing as he saw my face. “Did I, uh, say something.. wrong?”

“Liam!” I frowned deeply, hiding my face in my hands.

“What?” He asked a little confused. “That’s really what it was like.”

I got up. “I think I should go now.”

“No, hey wait.” Liam got up as well, reaching out for my arm. “I didn’t mean to upset you. Don’t feel like you have to leave.”

I smiled at him a little awkwardly. “No, it’s fine really. I need to shower anyways. And I bet you guys need some room to get settled in. I don’t wanna.. disturb you.”

Somehow Liam had managed to talk me into staying. His puppy eyes and his pleads not to leave him by himself just made me roll my eyes at him, but as he played the I-just-went-through-a-breakup-card I couldn’t really say no anymore. He had made some tea and we just talked for a moment before he sent me off to the shower, pulling out some towels for me to use.

As I stepped out of the shower I found a pile of boys’ clothes on a stool, a note attached to them saying that I could wear those. I dried my body off, wrapped another towel around my long hair and then took a look at the clothes. A pair of sweats and a long sleeve shirt, which no doubt would be way too big for me but I pulled them on anyways. The clothes felt cozy against my skin and I was happy not having to wear my own clothes I had worn to the bar the night before again.

After I had dried my hair a little I went back downstairs and found Liam, still sitting in front of the TV where I had left him. He had made more tea and grinned as I sat back down next to him.

“Feeling better?” He asked and handed me a cup, which I thankfully took.

“Yes, much better, thanks.”

“Are you hungry? I reckon you haven’t eaten yet today.” He looked worried and shifted his body to face me.

“No, I’m good. Thanks, though.” I smiled at him, but the worried expression didn’t leave his face.

“Well, make yourself a home. Take whatever you need.” He said after a moment and his expression smoothed. “There’s loads of food in the kitchen. And I suppose you’re better with a stove than your boyfriend is, huh?”

“Liam.” I warned him, raising my eyebrows. He grinned. “If you want me to stay with you, you better be nice to me.”

“Oh sorry.” He said sarcastically. “Your almost-boyfriend, I mean.”

Liam and I spend the afternoon on the couch, drinking lots of tea while talking, joking and him making fun of me and Niall. He did it in a way which made me laugh at it as well and talking about my feelings for Niall out loud somehow made them less creepy and the idea of me and Niall dating less absurd.

As the time trickled by and it got later and later Liam started wondering out loud where the other boys were at. Personally I was rather happy that they hadn’t returned yet, because I wasn’t ready to meet them, let alone speak to Niall about the previous night. Or this morning. My brain just couldn’t handle yet.

Liam tried calling his friends, but didn’t really get any information out of them, so as he kept pouting like a little child I flicked the TV back on and started watching some show. I laid down onto the couch and snuggled into one of the pillows Liam had thrown at me earlier today during one of our playful fights.

I blinked my eyes twice, trying to find out where I was at. I must had fallen asleep and now pushed myself off the couch I had been sleeping on, looking around, realizing that I was still at the boys’ house; still in their living room on the couch, a blanket wrapped around my shoulders. The clock by the TV let me know that it was just past 2 am. I groaned, not understanding how I had fallen asleep again for so long and hating myself for waking up now. Now of all times. What was I going to do?

I turned my head around, making sure I was alone. The living room was dark and the only light falling into the room was coming from a light in the hallway through the gap in the door which hadn’t been shut all the way. I sat up and turned back around to find my cup of tea still resting on the little coffee table, a note caught in between the cup and the table. I reached out the grab the piece of paper and unfold it. Liam had scribbled something onto it, but a bold childlike handwriting had made corrections all over it.

Hey Coco. Princess

Just in case you’re waking up in the middle of the night, don’t feel like you have to leave. You’re free to lay down in any of the spare guest bedrooms we have. Or mine. :)

We’ll be gone for an interview in the morning, but we’ll see you afterwards.

Sleep tight, Liam.

You’re such a sleepyhead! Text me when you wake up. xx Ni

I blushed even though no one was around and my heart started pounding like crazy. Could Niall maybe stop being so freaking adorable at times? His note just made me want to go upstairs and cuddle in bed with him. But I couldn’t, of course. He didn’t actually mean what he wrote. Did he?


	26. Chapter 26

Niall’s POV:

I woke up early the next morning, awoken by the shrill ringing of my alarm clock. I rolled over, my hand searching for my phone to shut the alarm off. When finally peaceful silence was filling the room, I slowly blinked my eyes open and looked around the dimly lit room. Much to my dismay I had to note that I was all by myself. After adding a few words of my own on Liam’s note for Coco yesterday I somehow had hoped to be woken in the middle of the night by a little ash blond girl climbing into bed with me. But of course she hadn’t.

I took myself through my normal morning routine and jumped into the shower right away, pulled on some clothes and as I was almost ready to go I went downstairs to grab some breakfast while trying to get my tousled hair under control. As I walked through the living room to get to the kitchen I stopped in my tracks when I found Coco still laying on the couch, sleeping soundly. Her lips were parted and her chest rose and sank with every breath she took. Her hair hung down the pillow almost all the way to the floor, her hands were holding onto the blanket I had wrapped around her last night and the clothes of mine the Liam had picked out for her draped beautifully around her body, even though they were way too big on her. A quick look towards the coffee table showed me that the note Liam and I had left had been unfolded. I felt sad for a moment knowing that she had read it but didn’t even bother to come either sleep with me or go lay down in one of the much more comfortable beds we had at the house anyways.

“Morning.” Zayn mumbled sleepily as he walked past me towards the kitchen and with one last look at Coco I followed him to grab some food. The other boys were already sitting in the kitchen all together and I closed the door behind me, so our chatter wouldn’t wake Coco. However, there really wasn’t much conversation going on. It was just past 5:30 in the morning and none of us felt like talking a lot. Louis was making coffee while we all pounced on the bacon and toast Harry had made for breakfast.

Shortly afterwards the car arrived and came to pick us up, so we all grabbed our stuff and were out the door quickly, piling into the car waiting outside the door. The ride was silent for the most part, Zayn constantly dozing off and being scolded by Liam for not getting enough rest.

“Let him be.” Louis said. “No matter how much sleep you get, you have the right to be tired at 6 in the morning.” And with his words the argument was over, Zayn happily going back to sleep and Liam pouting a little as he gazed out the window.

We arrived at the radio studios quickly and the short ride didn’t give me much time to think about anything other then how tired I was and how much I wanted to go back to sleep right away. Though I knew I’d have to postpone my nap till later and decided that I would lay down with Coco on the couches as soon as we got back. The thought made me smile dumbly as we reached the studio, climbed out of the car and went to great the fans.

“Did Coco text you?” Zayn asked, pulling the headphones off my ears so I could hear him. I looked up and saw him stare down at my phone I had just gotten out.

“Erm, no.” I replied a little embarrassed, but he gave me a warm smile and then pulled his own headphones off his ears. I looked around to see the other three boys chatting away with the radio host before our interview. We were all standing in front of large recording devices and computers and all of us – except from Louis at times – made sure not to touch anything. Louis however had fun times pressing random buttons and making the radio host as well as the station’s technicians go crazy. It was amusing in a way.

“So.. how are you two coming along?” Zayn kept pressing and I turned back around to face him and see the big smirk on his face. I glared at him for a moment, nodding my head in the direction of the radio host, showing Zayn to keep it quiet. He just shrugged it off and the cocked his eyebrows at me, wanting an answer.

“Well.. not as good as I hoped we would.”

Zayn kept smiling. “That means..?”

“That means that I planned on introducing her to you as my new girlfriend.”

“Awh, hey.” Zayn cooed softly, nudging me in the side. “That’s so sweet. So what’s the hold up then?”

I shrugged. “Been working on it.”

Scrollan’s POV:

I was wandering through the silent house, checking every room for the boys. But apparently they were gone for interview already, so I was all by myself in the house. It felt so weird. Out of the five boys I had only met three of them, talked to only two of them and really only knew them for a couple of weeks. Yet I was still trusted with their house now.

I had checked their bedrooms, because I felt like I had to make sure I really was alone even though I felt a little bit like sneaking around their place. It was funny how messy everything was already even though they had only been back for one day. Except Liam’s room of course, which looks flawlessly tidy as ever.

I made my way back down into the kitchen, remembering Liam’s words to make myself a home and take whatever I needed. I didn’t want to exploit the offer though, already feeling bad for staying at the house two nights in a row and only filled the kettle with some water to make myself some tea. As I waited for the water to heat I looked around the kitchen and found the leftovers of the boys’ breakfast still laying around, figuring that they had been in a rush this morning having no time to clean up. I put their plates in the dishwasher and wiped the counter, feelings that this was the least I could do for staying at their place.

When my tea was done I grabbed the cup, thinking about sitting down onto the couch but then changed my mind and just wandered off up the stairs towards the boys’ bedrooms. Standing in the hallway I didn’t know where to go next. I felt like sitting down in Niall’s bedroom let alone lay down in his bed, would be – without a doubt – really nice, but at the same time really inappropriate and awkward to explain in case he got home anytime soon.

I slowly started walking down the stairs again, not really knowing where I was heading so halfway down the stairs I stopped and just waited for a moment, gathering my thoughts. It lead me nowhere though and somehow I just ended up sitting down on the steps, my legs hanging through the gaps between the stairs, swinging mindlessly as I leaned against the wall and drank my tea silently.

As much as I just wanted to leave to get away from the awkwardness of the whole situation and having to explain why I was still at the house and having to meet the other boys; as much as I was so afraid of all that I wanted Niall to get back home right now and spend some time with me. I had hated that he had been gone pretty much all day yesterday and that I hadn’t really had a chance to talk to him again. And then again, I didn’t know what to say anyways. If he was here now, he would have to do the talking because I really didn’t know. I didn’t how what he thought about the previous morning and the night before that. I didn’t know if he still – or at all – liked me and if he wanted to be with me. I’d just nod along and say ‘yes’ in the end. If only this was how things went down..

Niall’s POV:

The interview was done with rather quickly and we all took the rear exit out of the studio, trying to avoid running into another mob of fans. Louis kept on rambling about something the interviewer had said that pissed him off and we all just kept quiet, not wanting to be the next target of his apparently bad mood.

The ride back home was silent for the most part again – not talking about Louis, here – and I just starred out the window, thinking about life. Shortly before we reached the house Liam turned around to look at me.

“Is Coco still at the house?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. She hasn’t texted me yet.. And also, she’s apparently telling you more than me anyways.” I replied, not meaning for the words to sound as bitter as they did. Liam looked a little hurt as he turned back around and Zayn nudged me into the side nodding towards the boy in front of me, causing me to mumble out a quiet “Sorry, Liam.” before we all got out of the car.

“Now go, get her.” Zayn said pushing me forwards a little as we got closer to the door. “I haven’t been introduced to her yet.” He winked encouragingly and let me enter the house before anyone else. I sighed a little, though I couldn’t hide my excitement about getting to nap. And getting to nap with Coco was even better for sure.

My excitement was a little baffled when I reached the living room and found that Coco wasn’t there anymore. The other boys had been on my heels, Harry and Louis making their way into the kitchen now and Zayn and Liam giving me a questioning and puzzled expression.

“In your room, maybe.” Liam suggested and walked past me into the kitchen as well. Zayn smiled at me one last time before he went to follow Liam and I turned around on my heels, making my way through the hallways towards the staircase. As I reached it, I took the first two steps jauntily, but froze in my steps when I found Coco sitting halfway up the stairs leaned against the wall. She looked at me.

“Hey.” I said a little stunned to find her sitting on the staircase. She held a cup in her hands and smiled weakly at me.

“Hi.”

Her words encouraged me to climbed up the next few stairs until we were on eye level, continuously thinking about something to say. Finding her here a little unexpectedly hadn’t given me time to prepare something to say. Or something to do. But she took the latter decision from me by petting the step she was sitting on motioning for me to come sit across from her. I slowly walked up the last few steps and then sat down where she had motioned for me to sit, my legs dangling through the gaps between the steps. She smiled as I had positioned myself, our knees touching lightly.

“How’s the interview?” She asked, sounding genuinely interested as she picked up the spoon in her tea and started stirring it.

“Okay.” I replied softly. “Why’d you not come to sleep with me?” Coco dropped the spoon in the cup and the sound it made in the ceramic made her flinch.

“Uhm..” She said looking down at the cup. “I didn’t know if you, uh, really wanted me to.. sleep with you.”

“Oh. Well.. I did.” I said slowly, shifting a little as I continued speaking. “I wrote it on the note, so.. yeah.”

“I saw that.” She said looking up at me for a moment, but looking down at her fingers right away again. “With you I just never know.. what you actually mean. When you say something.”

I frowned a little but nodded. “Yeah, I- .. I guess things would have been a lot easier if.. if I would’ve been honest with you from the beginning. And honest with myself.” She looked up. There was something in her eyes telling me that it was no or never. That it was either telling her how I felt right now or being friends for the rest of our lives. And as her lips curled up in a silent smile making her look beautiful as ever I decided to try. In the end I wanted to be able to tell myself that I did all I could have done.

“Erm.” I started, coughing a little awkwardly. “I guess there’s a few things I should tell you.. I’m in no other band, don’t worry.” I said quickly as I saw her eyes darken. She chuckled and as a carefree expression returned onto her face I continued talking. “So, yes. I don’t really know how- .. Uhm. Okay, so I’m not good at this. So forgive me if this is no good, but uh.. I missed you. When you were here and I was in Ireland. I thought a lot about you.” I said carefully watching her expression. It didn’t change and I wasn’t quite sure whether that was good or not. “Generally I’ve been thinking a lot about you. And you make me.. happy. You’re really funny and you make me laugh.. especially when you’re drunk.” I added with a smirk and she blushed brightly. Scooting a little closer to her I remembered something Liam had said. “Liam told me you’ve been worried.” I started and placed my index finger softly onto her lips as she tried to protest. “Let me finish.” I pleaded and she sighed, giving in and I took my finger back. “So.. Liam said you were worried. About how I’d react.. But frankly, I don’t know what you’re talking about. That night you were.. incredibly sweet and saying all those things to me that I’ve been wanting to hear you say for so long now. And I was having a good time. But the next morning.. that you were so upset.. it scared me. I don’t want you to be upset over something I have done. I never want to hurt you. Or let anybody else hurt you.” She looked a little floored by my words and I scooted even closer, pulling her knees to rest upon mine. “I feel like I need to protect you, you mean so much to me. And I don’t understand it, and it just scares me. Losing you scares me even more than standing the thought that you might be feeling the same way but I’ve always been too scared to tell you.. So this is me telling you. Scrollan, this is me telling you that I think I.. I- I might be in love with you.”

Her eyes grew wider, sparkling beautifully, her breathing quickening as I leaned closer towards her.

“I think you should kiss me now.” She whispered almost inaudibly. Her words took all the weight off my mind and I felt happily dazed all the sudden, leaning in even more our faces only inches away.

“Yeah, I think I should.” I breathed against her skin. She closed the distance between us and I felt her lips softly press against mine as my eyes fluttered shut. The feeling was amazing and made my heart pound at a pace that was above healthy levels for sure. But I didn’t care and as Coco pulled away carefully after a moment I frowned, not wanting to let go of the sensational feeling.

“I think I should do that again.” I whispered a little breathlessly and her eyes lit up.

“Yes, I think you should.” She agreed, scooting even closer our chests almost touching now. I leaned forward again until our lips met. Even though I knew what was coming next I wasn’t any less taken aback by the amazement of the kiss. Her hands found mine and we intertwined our fingers holding onto each other as we deepened the kiss. When she pulled back to catch her breath, she freed one of her hands and placed it against my cheek, running circles on my skin with her thumb.

“I think I might love you, too.” She whispered against my lips.


	27. Chapter 27

Scrollan’s POV:

„Erm, guys?“ Liam called up the stairs a little embarrassed. When I turned my head to look at him I saw that he was standing with his back to us, his neck flushed.

“We’re clear, you can turn around.” Niall advised him, wrapping his arms around my hips. I smiled and eased into the touch, still a little dazed from the what had just happened. I just couldn’t quite believe that Niall had simply said it. Simply said that he loved me. After all this time of him being so secretive he finally just did it, devoting him to the best kiss(es) I had ever gotten.

“I don’t wanna disturb any intimate togetherness here, but I just need to get upstairs real quick.” Liam continued, flushing even more and making me smile widely. He was adorably awkward.

“Sure mate, go ahead.” Niall said nonchalantly, scooting closer towards me and making room behind his back for Liam to walk past. My knees were resting upon Niall’s which wasn’t the most comfortable position, but I didn’t complain. Our fingers intertwined and our chest almost touching, I grinned down at Liam who slowly came approaching us.

“Well.. finally, right?” He said as he passed us, ruffling through Niall’s hair. I just smiled back, blushing a little and Niall mumbled something under his breath, causing Liam to laugh. “Couldn’t have done it with out me!” He called as he reached the top of the stairs and walked away.

I had been looking after Liam and Niall tugged on my hands turning my attention back towards him. He smiled at me lovingly and I was overwhelmed by the joy in his eyes. He looked genuinely happy.

“Liam didn’t help me, I swear. If anything he caused trouble.” Niall said, nodding towards the top of the stairs where Liam had been just a moment ago.

“Of course.” I said nodding, but cocking an eyebrow at him. The smug expression on his face was terribly attractive and before I knew it I found himself cupping his face with my hands and pulling him in for another kiss. Niall smiled against my lips, deepening the kiss with curious passion. Everything about him was drop dead adorable and I couldn’t resist opening my mouth and letting my tongue dance along his bottom lip. As he parted his lips I slowly licked my way into his mouth and was ready to carefully nibble on his bottom lips as a loud yelp made us break away.

“Ah, eww!” Zayn exclaimed and I turned my head to see him standing at the bottom of the stairs where Liam had been a moment ago. The dark haired boy looked towards the top of the stairs and angrily raised his fist as he continued yelling. “Screw you, Liam. You said they were clear.”

We heard Liam’s room’s door swing open, though he didn’t show up at the top of the staircase. “Just said they were clear when I went upstairs.” He yelled back, chuckling away.

“I think we’re in an extremely inconvenient spot here.. and should probably move.” Niall muttered into my ear, making me chuckled. He turned to look down at Zayn as he carefully scooted away from me. “Hey, Zayn.” He called motioning for him to come up the stairs. The dark haired boy hesitated for a moment, but as Niall and I both got up slowly he climbed up a few steps. I blushed a little at the thought that the last time I had seen Zayn I had only been in panties and feeling worse than ever before.

“I’m really sorry.” Zayn said right away as he stood on eye level with us. “But Liam texted and he said you guys were clear. I really didn’t mean to walk in on..” Niall waved off shaking his head, showing him that he didn’t mind. That we didn’t mind.

“I believe you two haven’t met.” Niall stated out of the blue looking from Zayn to me and back at him. Zayn’s lips curved up in a slight smile, hopefully not remembering our last encounter too vividly. I blushed again. “Coco,” Niall motioned towards Zayn “This is my band mate Zayn. Zayn,” He turned towards me “This is my new girlfriend Scrollan. But she goes by Coco.”

“Nice to meet you.” Zayn said holding out a hand for me and smiling widely. I shook his hand, returning the smile. “Alright, I better get going.” He concluded after another moment of silence and then quickly climbed past me and Niall up the stairs to disappear in his room.

“My room?” Niall asked looking from me to the top of the staircase.

“Okay.” I agreed, nodding and Niall took my hand, lacing our fingers and pulling me upstairs with him.

Niall and I were cuddled together in his bed, watching a random show on TV but I wasn’t really paying attention. Mindlessly Niall let his fingers dance across my back, making me ache for his touch. I wrapped my arms tighter around his waist, cuddling into his chest. My head was resting in the crook of his neck and I could feel him turn his head to place a soft kiss on top of my head. The happiness that flooded my body made me sigh happily.

“You alright, baby?” Niall asked, his lips brushing against my hair. The new meaning of the familiar nickname made me even happier. If he continued like this he was going to make my heart burst by the end of the day.

I nodded against his skin and curled my body closer against his. The hand that hand been dancing down my spine was now running down my back until it reached the small of my back, pushing me even closer to Niall and then just mindlessly rubbed my skin. I wondered if Niall purposely touched me like that. The thought of how else he might be able to touch me purposely made my stomach flop. Oh my..

I needed to distract myself. Think of something else. Say something. Just don’t think about how Niall could use his skillful Irish hands to unbutton your jeans and pull down-

“So.” I stated, forcing my train of thoughts to stop. “Girlfriend, you said.” I felt Niall’s body stiffen underneath mine. He wasn’t prepared for this question. But then again, neither was I. I turned my head to rest my chin against his chest and look up at him.

“I-I uh, shouldn’t have, maybe I- sorry, thought I.. no I, uh.” He blushed and I smiled at his stuttering, unsettling him even more. “Sorry, really I- I really.. I.” He inhaled deeply. “I should have talked to you about it.”

I nodded. “You should have asked me about it.”

“Yeah, sorry. I should have.” He looked seriously upset now.

“Well, ask me now.” I suggested with a sweet smile on my face. His eyes grew wider, but I saw confusion strike through them. He was quiet for a moment and I waited patiently for him to make a decision, my chin still resting against his chest.

“I.. Well, do you want be my girlfriend?” He asked after a long pause and I picked up my head from his chest, cocking it to one side and watching his anxious expression with amusement.

“Oh hmm, Niall. I don’t know..” I said nonchalantly, making my voice sound as if I had to think about it. But I couldn’t keep my masquerade, grinning at him widely now. “Let me sleep over it.”

The smile he cracked let me know that he had seen through my plan. “You. You are going to be my death, girl.” He said poking my stomach. “Playing with my heart like it’s nothing. I think somebody needs to teach you a lesson, huh?” I looked at him with big eyes, waiting for his next move. I didn’t see his hands coming and just gasped for air as he started tickling me wildly, making me squeal and call for help. But of course no real words came of out my mouth and I just kept laughing uncontrollably.

“No, Niall. Please.” I pleaded laughing loudly, while trying to push his hands away but he had rolled himself on top of me, pressing me down with his entire body. “Please.” I stretched the word, but my voice broke as I gasped for air, laughing more and more. “Niall James Horan.” I breathed out as I finally got a hold of his hands. “Fine. Fine! I’ll be your girlfriend.”

“Good.” He replied smiling sweetly. He wiggled his hands free and propped himself up a little, letting his lips ghost over mine before dipping down and letting a sweet kiss stroke past my lips. I smiled into the kiss, pulling him down a little and kissing him back. His hot body above mine was incredibly teasing and had a comforting feel to it at the same time. But way too soon Niall leaned back from the kiss and rolled off me, laying down next to me.

I was still breathing quickly from the tickling and also from the kissing when he propped himself on one elbow, looking down at me. As I scooted closer towards him I tangled my legs with his, pressing my hips against his.

“You’re going to be bad for my health.” Niall stated, still panting a little as well.

“Yepp.” I replied smiling sweetly and letting the ‘p’ pop while winking at him. “And it’s going to be so much fun.” He smiled back as I reached up for his neck to pull him down for another lingering kiss.

“I heard you can be a real pain in the ass?” Louis asked smirking at me after Niall introduced me to the other boys a little later downstairs in the living room.

“Did you now?” I said turning to glance at Niall and Liam who were sitting next to me on the couch. “What a sweet way to introduce me.”

“Just being honest.” Niall said grinning widely, flinging an arm around my hips, pulling me closer and pressing a kiss on top of my hair. “I like it though.” He muttered almost inaudibly against my hair.

I hummed and then shifted away from him to get up. “I think I need to get going.” Niall looked up at me with big eyes as I announced my departure. He looked from me to the other boys and then back tugging on my hand trying to pull me back down.

“Don’t go.” He said quietly, obviously not too comfortable with his friends in the room. I smiled down at him and then freed my hand from his.

“I really need to go though. My parents are getting back tomorrow and I haven’t even started cleaning up yet.” I explained to him but not managing to get his eyes to light up. I said goodbye to the other four boys quickly, hugging Liam and waving at the others before leaving the living room with Niall in tow.

“Did I upset you? I’m really sorry, I don’t want you to go.” He rambled, standing close to me as I sorted stuff in my purse. His words caused me to look up in surprise.

“It takes a little more to upset me then saying that I’m a pain in the ass. I know that.” I smirked at him and finally his lips curled up into a smile as well.

“Okay. But doesn’t change that I still want you to stay.”

“I really can’t.” I said sorrily. “The house won’t clean itself and since I already spend the past two nights here I think I really should be heading home now.” I bent down to pull on my shoes and then realized that I was still in the sweats Liam had picked out for me. “Would you do me a favor and tell Liam that he’ll get his clothes back first thing in the morning? I just wanna wash them for him.”

Niall looked down at me and pulled on the sleeves of my shirt in amusement. “They’re not Liam’s clothes. They’re mine. And you can keep them if you’d like to.”

“Oh.” I looked down the shirt. “But I thought they were his.. Liam laid them out for me to wear.”

“I know, he told me. He just said he thought you might feel a little more comfy in my clothes than in his.”

I blushed. And even more so because I really did feel very comfortable in his clothes. Trying to hide my embarrassment I brushed a strand of my hair behind my ear and then picked up my purse and hoodie, as well as a plastic bag with the dirty clothes I had worn to the bar.

Niall smiled as I looked up at him, placing his hands on my hips and turning my body to face his. The soft kiss he pressed against my lips made my heart flutter and my hands clench around the handle of the bag.

“Text me when you get home.”

“Copy that, sir.” I teased and Niall pressed another quick kiss onto the tip of my nose before he let go of me and opened the door for me to step outside in the surprisingly warm August air.


	28. Chapter 28

Niall’s POV:

I had always had a hard time sleeping on airplanes. For some reason people seemed to find the seats they had in the first class very comfortable and a good place to take a nap in. I on the other hand never really understood how the other four boys, and generally everybody else did it.

So, because I couldn’t fall asleep, I had to sit through our almost ten hour flight from America back to the UK wide awake while all the others were sleeping soundly. No fun. Fortunately the airline offered some pretty interesting movies and I spent the first five hours watching the first two transformers movies, before I got tired of that as well and just flicked off the screen, exchanging the airplane’s headphones against the ones from my iPod and started listening to music. I closed my eyes, trying to at least relax if I already couldn’t fall asleep.

As soon as I shut my eyes and the scene of the first class cabin disappeared from in front of my eyes, a new one showed up. It was a picture that showed up a lot of times lately and which I liked a lot. Coco. My princess. She was on my mind all the time and since I hadn’t seen her in six days, she was even more so right now. I smiled as the Coco in my head twirled around happily, smiling at me in pure satisfaction. It was the same look she had sported after introducing me to her parents. Which that, I may mention, went better than I had hoped. Coco had told me how overprotective her mother could be at times and it scared the crap out of me knowing that her father used to be in the military. I didn’t expect him to shot me of course, but well you never know, right?

Now I was glad though that meeting her parents was off the bucket list and I could stop feeling like sneaking around with her, knowing that we had her parents’ blessing. The lads kept bugging me about it, saying that meeting her parents this early could only mean that she wanted to drag me to the altar rather soon. I laughed it off, honestly not thinking that she would be ready for that step within the next twenty years. But I somehow wished she was. I knew we had only been dating for a couple of weeks now, but I really liked her and the way she made my heart race every time we touched made being with her just so very exciting. Thus I hated being gone. And having been gone for some promotion thing in America for the past six days was the longest we hadn’t seen each other since we started dating.

I sighed, opening my eyes again and shifting a little in my seat. Harry and Zayn were seated across from me, both awake now still looking a little dazed. I smiled at them weakly and Harry just closed his eyes again, resting his head against the little pillow the flight assistant had given him. Zayn on the other hand smiled back.

“Is Coco coming to pick you up?” He asked and I pulled the headphones out of my ears to talk to him.

“Suppose so, yeah.” I replied, leaning forward a little. “Is Perrie coming?”

Zayn nodded. “Yes, haven’t seen her in forever. I’m really excited.”

I grinned. “Bet you are. Gonna get lucky?”

“Well, I sure hope so!” He exclaimed and we laughed. “Are you?”

I blushed a little and shrugged. “I don’t know. We haven’t, you know. I wouldn’t wanna ask. And I don’t know if she wants to..”

“Well, Nialler. You don’t get what you don’t ask for.”

Zayn had been wrong. Sometimes you did get what you didn’t ask for. And the latter was true in my case.

Having had to share a hotel room with Louis for the past five nights I had found it difficult to get rid of the tension building up in my stomach after not seeing Coco for that long. We hadn’t really gotten to a point in our relationship where she was taking care of this tension yet, but having her around a lot made it easier for me to so. So it was needless to mention that I was happy to see her again, not even caring about the fact that I had to go greet the fans first for almost forty minutes before making my way out of the airport and down the parking lot where she was waiting with her car, ready to take me home. We had both agreed that it was better for her not to come inside and meet me there, considering that we still hadn’t really told the public about us. Coco didn’t really object the idea of me just letting it slip during an interview, but I thought it would be best for our relation to keep it a secret as long as possible. And thus I was now heaving my suitcase in the car’s trunk before walking around the car excitedly and ripping the passenger seat’s door open, jumping in happily.

“Baby.” Coco breathed excitedly before her hands were around my neck and her lips against mine. I chuckled into the kiss, pulling her as close as possible with the seat belt restricting her movements a little.

“Hi.” I said a little breathlessly as she pulled away eventually, smiling happily down at her face. She looked beautiful as ever, her long hair tugged under a headband. “You look cute.” She blushed a little and my heart skipped a beat, thinking I would probably never get used to the way her eyes lit up and her cheeks reddened whenever I made her a compliment.

“Thanks.” She muttered before shifting back in her own seat properly and turning on the engine of the car. As she pulled out of the parking lot we started chatting lightly and she asked about how America had been.

“I have a tumblr now to keep me updated while your gone.” She declared happily but I couldn’t keep a frown off my face.

“You do know that they put a lot a crap on there, don’t you?” I asked carefully.

“Yeah.” She said nonchalantly, turning her head over her shoulder as she took a turn. “I figured that out as soon as I read the first gay fanfiction about you and Zayn.” Her voice stayed calm and amused but a slight blush crept upon my cheeks as I turned to look at her with big eyes.

“Why were you even reading that?”

She cracked a smile, though her eye stayed fixed on the road. “Oh you know.. You were gone and I was bored. And lonely.” She stretched the last word till my stomach flopped. She didn’t really just say that.

“I think we need to a have a serious conversation as soon as we get home, dear.” I said amused.

“Well, we do need something serious, but it’s not a conversation. I’m telling you.” She said turning her head and cocking an eyebrow at me. My mouth went dry. “And that’s why we’re going to yours right now.. So we can talk.” She added in the end, smirking at the blank expression on my face. I felt like we were running a little fast now. Not that I would mind tough..

“I don’t think I’m gonna wanna talk.” I replied after a long moment of silence and sorting my brain. The smirk on her face grew even wider.

“Didn’t think so.”

By the time we reached my apartment my hands were sweaty, my heart was beating like crazy and the devilish smirk on Coco’s face didn’t falter just once. I somehow felt like I was in the wrong position. How come she had me this whipped, eager for anything to happen? I felt a little pathetic but at the time thought my actions were definitely justifiable. After all she was my girlfriend; and I hadn’t seen her in forever; and she had just promised me sex; for the first time.

As soon as we got out of the car I went to grab my suitcase quickly and then let her intertwine my fingers with hers and drag me towards the elevator to ride up to my flat. And as expected in any cheesy movie as soon as the elevator doors closed, she leaned her body against mine, pressing leisure kisses against my lips. I kissed her back carefully, keeping in mind that I couldn’t let myself fall for her quite yet. Wouldn’t want sexpictures in the elevator to make the cover of ‘The Sun’ the next day..

As the elevator stopped and a silent ‘ping’ announced that we had reached the right story Coco bit down on my bottom lip one last time, demanding “Keys.” before taking them out of my hands and walking out of the elevator towards the door of my apartment. I grabbed the suitcase and followed her, trying to hide a smile creeping across my lips over her playful dominance.

I stepped into the room right after her and she didn’t even let me set down my bag or close the door before she pressed her lips against mine again, her hands all over me. I heard my keys drop to the floor and kicked the door shut with my foot as she started dragging me backwards through the hallway towards my bedroom. I felt my blood rush through my veins as her hands grabbed the collar of my jacket and pulled it off my shoulders, letting it carelessly drop to the floor as she kept pushing me backwards. I chuckled a little as she almost bumped into the door frame and repositioned her in my arms to pull her jacket off as well, along with her headband, letting my fingers run through her hair.

As we finally reached my bedroom I decided it was my turn to take over and I twirled her around a little in my arms to firmly grab her waist and toss her onto the bed before crawling on top of her. She let her fingers lock in my hair and I started kissing down her neck, sucking on the sensitive skin causing a few surprised gasps to escape her mouth.

“’Ve you been missing me?” I asked against her jaw the smile lingering across my lips evident in my voice. She nodded and I felt her swallow. “Me too.” I hummed quietly as my lips found hers again, pressing together gently or tongues touching as I opened my mouth.

“How long has it been?” She muttered as she pulled away a bit, her lips still against mine. I shifted a little as she let her hands dance down my back, pressing against the small of my back.

“Hm, since I saw you last?” I muttered back, pecking her lips as I waited for an answer. She blushed a little and took her time before she spoke again.

“No, since the last time you..” Her eyes darted down towards my crotch and she gave me a silent nod, trying to get me to understand. “You know?” Oh, I knew. I knew very well what she was talking about.

“The last time I wanked off, thinking about you?” I asked smirking, trying to turn this whole teasing game around. And it worked. Coco blushed even more than before, making me smile brightly as she nodded carefully. “Quite a while.” I replied pecking her lips, adoring the smile that spread across her lips. “Seven days and roughly eight hours to be exact.” I added.

“Well, let’s hope you’re gonna last then.” She replied smirking now, yanking me around so she was straddling my waist.

Scrollan’s POV:

I felt Niall growing hard underneath me as bent down to kiss him and let my hands carefully tug on the hem of his shirt, showing him that I wanted it off. He got the hint and propped himself up a little, giving me room to pull the shirt of his body and marvel at the beauty of his toned muscles underneath me. I let my hands roam over his chest only losing contact once as he pulled my own shirt over my head. I loved the feeling of his strong hot body against mine and pressed down against him as we kept kissing passionately for a while.

It didn’t take us long to get rid of the rest of our clothing as well and I was happy to see that I was getting my way today. I hadn’t really wanted to press on the physical part of our relationship so far, as apparently Niall saw no issue in waiting a little longer to take the next step. But not being able to see, let alone touch him for almost a week now, drove me sort of insane and made my body want things even more than before. So as I promised Niall to pick him up from the airport I also promised myself to get some of that Irish love. Physical love.

And as Niall was a guy like every other guy he fortunately couldn’t resist seductive stares, a cheeky mouth and a demanding girlfriend. So he let himself fall for my trap and from the constant moans escaping his mouth now I got the feeling that I was doing something right.

I was laying on top of him, still straddling his waist and kissed down his neck and chest as I felt him buck his hips up for some sort of friction. I kept kissing lower and lower and as soon as Niall understood where this was going he suddenly stilled his body for a moment and started trying to formulate coherent sentences.

“I- Baby, I.. don’t think.. good idea.” He gasped out in between little moans that made my mind run wild. He looked so hot as he panted out my name every now and then, moaning quietly as I let my hands roam over his body. My mouth had almost reached his lower regions as he started to talk again. “Should not.. not g-gonna. B-baby, I- not gonna last.” He stumbled out finally but it was too much fun seeing him reel underneath my touch for me to stop.

I let my mouth dip down to start kissing down his length and he panted out loudly, his hands flying to grab my hair and steady my movements. I smiled as I let my head bob up and down, hollowing my cheeks and heard Niall cuss fiercely from above.

As I was still only teasing him, not really wanting him to come just yet I let go of him soon and crawled back up until my lips met his. He broke the kiss to gasp for air and I let open mouth kisses wander down Niall’s cheeks as I enjoy just how good I could make him feel.

“I’m gonna.. have a.. heart condition in the morning.” He gasped out and I chuckled against his neck before bringing my head back up to look at him.

“It’s gonna be worth it though, right?”

“Hell, yeah.” He breathed out nodding quickly and I chuckled again. I let my hands dance up his chest, to grab his shoulder and bite down in to the sensitive skin.

“Do you have something here?” I whispered against the skin of his shoulder and felt him nod above me.

“Second drawer.” He advised, pointing towards the bedside table and I rolled off him quickly to be able to reach the drawer he had pointed at. I let my hands blindly fish for the condoms and soon enough pulled up a box and opened it swiftly before pulling out one of the little packets. I brought it up to my mouth and caught in in between in teethes as I rolled back on top on Niall, making him moan out a little.

“Too heavy?” I asked cheekily as I ripped the packet open and sat up before scooting down his body a little until I was sitting on his thighs, his length right in front of me.

“Too hot.” Niall grinned back at me as I let my fingers quickly roll the condom over and then scooted up again a little to kiss his neck.

“Ready?” I asked a little breathlessly. In my voice it was evident how more than ready I was. Niall grinned at me, probably having heard it but he nodded just as eagerly just a moment later. I grinned back while slowly lifting myself up a little before letting me sink back down onto him. He moaned deliciously and I had to steady myself with my hands on his chest as another moan escaped his lips, not to mention my own. Niall grabbed a hold of my hips steadying them, giving me no room to move.

“Just a moment, okay?” He breathed out, his eyes shut and I chuckled quietly, amused with how close to the edge he was already. I let the amazing feeling settle in my own stomach, closing my eyes trying to remember it for later. To remember it for the next time Niall was gone for more then two days. Because from now on I planned on doing this at least every other day.

Niall’s grip around my hips loosened a little and I opened my eyes to look down at him and see that he was looking up at me, smiling shyly. His bright blue eyes encouraged me to bend down towards him and place a soft kiss on the corner of his lips. But the movement of me bending down and shifting forward was apparently already too much for him.

My lips still lingering above his I felt his body stiffen underneath me and he groaned out a sound that caused a pleasant shiver to run down my spine. His hands clenched around my hips again, his knuckles turning white. The flood of cuss words that followed just a moment later was just hot breath against my lips as he still couldn’t form real words and just bucked his hips underneath me.

“Did you just..?” I asked a little thrown off.

“Obviously.” He replied still panting like crazy, his eyes shut tightly.

“Just making sure I got that right.” I replied with a chuckle, stroking his cheeks as he came down from his high. As soon as he relaxed a little he let go of my hips, his hands falling down uselessly next to his body. I wasn’t sure whether that was supposed to be a hint of his but reckoning that he was very sensitive now I felt like it was only appropriate for me to carefully roll myself off him and cuddle up next to him.

As I did so he raised his hands to his face burring it and groaning deeply. I chuckled again, wrapping my arm around his stomach making sure not to reach out too lowly.

“Hey, it’s okay.” I said soothingly kissing against his shoulder. He just groaned again, still not moving his hands from his face. I chuckled again quietly as I grabbed his left hand and pulled it off his face to look at him. His cheeks were flushed red and I couldn’t tell whether it was from the sex or from his embarrassment.

“I swear to God, this never before happened to me.” He said carefully peering down at me. “Never.”

I smiled up at him, my fingers curling against his stomach. “I guess that just means I’m way hotter than any girl you’ve been with before.” I joked, trying to scoot even closer to him. He frowned at me but wrapped his arm around my shoulder and let me rest my head on his biceps.

“Please, don’t joke about this.” He said angrily. “Can you even imagine how embarrassed I am right now?”

“Well, can you even imagine how sexually frustrated I am right now?” I asked back, amusement evident in my voice but of course Niall missed it. He blushed even more, pressing his eyes shut and bringing his right hand back up to cover his eyes. “I’m joking!” I exclaimed right away, sitting up a little to let my face linger over his. “I’m joking, Niall. Look at me, popstar.” I continued and he let me pull his hand away but his head away as I tired to kiss him.

“Oh, come on, Niall.” I pleaded, letting my lips wander up his cheek to his temple pressing little kisses on his skin all the way up there. “I’m telling you, it’s not that big of a deal. We’ll try again. Next time I’m just gonna.. wear hideous makeup or die my hair green if that helps.” I offered, nudging his side and he looked up at me.

“I’m really sorry.” He said weakly and I smiled down at him.

“Okay, it’s okay. Really. Maybe it’s my own fault. Attacking you like this.. ambushing you.” I cocked my eyebrows at him dramatically and finally managed to get him to crack a smile and chuckle quietly.

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it an ambush. We are dating after all and I guess I should have been prepared for something like this.”

“It would have been less fun if you were.”

“And also Louis then would have had the honor of listening to me wanking off in the hotel room we had to share.”

“Talking about that, I also read some gay fanfiction about you and Louis.”

Niall inhaled sharply and I snickered at his reaction. “I think it’s good that I’m back and you don’t have to spend more time on that stupid tumblr page.” He said, pulling my chin down for a quick kiss.

“Actually I think I’m still going to spending time on there. It’s really kind of entertaining.” He just frowned at me deeply but I didn’t let it distract me. “Do you want me to show you my favorite story?”

He groaned. “Is it about me and one of the boys?”

I chuckled and let me head sink down so my chin was resting against his chest. “No, actually. It’s about you and some girl whose name I forgot. But it’s really kinda dirty.”

“Oh. So she’s like you?” He replied with a cheeky grin on his face.

“No.” I said nonchalantly, suppressing the smile ready to spread over my lips. “She actually gets off, so..”

The look on his face was absolutely priceless.


	29. Chapter 29

Niall’s POV:

It was yet another lazy day afternoon and since Coco and I had initially planned on going out with the lads we were at the house that day instead of my apartment. However, as soon as we had gotten there we had to find that Louis and Zayn had excused themselves to go see their girlfriends and Liam was curled up in his bed upset about yet another conversation on the phone with Danielle. Harry and I were sitting on the couches in the living room now while Coco was in the kitchen making some tea.

“Are Liam and Danielle ever gonna get themselves figured out?” I asked in annoyance. I had been so convinced that we were done with this whole Danielle-thing but then it started all over again.

“Look who’s talking! Do you know how long it took you and Coco to finally get together?” Harry asked back, laughing at the grumpy look on my face.

“Well but Liam is so indecisive. At least I knew all along what I wanted.” I protested, waving my hands through the air. Harry grinned.

“Did you now?” Coco asked from behind me. She came walking into the room to pick up our cups from the table before she walked back towards the kitchen. “I didn’t quite get that vibe.”

“I did though!” I called after her and she chuckled as she returned to whatever she had been doing in the other room before. Turning back to Harry I rolled my eyes before I spoke again. “That girl.” I nodded towards the kitchen. “That girl wants me dead. I swear. She’s my death.” Harry laughed. And even more so he did when he saw the serious expression on my face.

“Are you sure, Niall?”

“Positive.”

He chuckled again. “Okay fine, what does she do?”

“Just plain.. killing me.” I tried to reason but Harry just laughed it off. We both looked up as Coco came walking into the room again, two steaming cups in her hands. Harry was still laughing as she set them down onto the coffee table for him and me to drink. I smiled at her thankfully, but Harry caught her attention before she even looked up at me.

“Coco? Are you trying to kill your boyfriend?”

“Literally? No.” I wide grin spread on her face, slowly turning into a smirk. “With my charms? Why, yes. I believe it’s working perfectly fine.” And with that she walked out of them room again, probably getting her own cup from the kitchen.

“See. “ I whispered half loud after she was gone and Harry just laughed again.

“I bet you two must have some mind blowing sex.” He said out of the blue, making me blush brightly. It had been almost two weeks since Coco’s and mine more than awkward try to have sex. I still couldn’t quite understand how I’d managed to come that early, but didn’t want to think about it either. Coco on the other hand seemed to bring it up constantly, having the time of her life while making fun of it. In a way it had me relieved, knowing that it wasn’t really a problem for her. But on the other hand I was still too embarrassed to laugh about it quite yet. And as right now, the memory always got me to blush a deep shade of red.

Harry grinned at my blush. “Wow, that sex must really good. Look at your face.” I shoved him a little, trying to hide my face in my hands at the same time.

“Shut it, Styles. We haven’t really had.. you know.”

“What?” Harry asked dumbfounded. “You say you two haven’t had sex yet?”

I looked up towards the kitchen a little concerned Coco might walk in at any moment. “Well, kinda.” I said lowly, not wanting Coco t hear. “I mean we tried but..” I blushed again.

“It didn’t work?” Harry finished the sentence for me and I nodded. “Niall, didn’t you-?” He blushed himself now. “Niall, if you didn’t get it up, you know there’s medication four that, right? I mean, usually guess your age don’t have the problem but-”

“Harry!” I cut him off, my eyes wide in surprise. “It’s not that I wasn’t aroused or didn’t get it up.” I said embarrassed.

A quiet chuckled made me turn around and see Coco standing behind me now, her own cup and a plate with cookies in her hands. How did that girl manage to always just pop up wherever?

“Yeah, it was more like the other way around.” She said nonchalantly towards Harry as she sat down on the couch next to me. And as I realized what she had just said I blushed for what felt like the hundredth time during that conversation and looked from her to Harry and back to her. She smiled sweetly but I couldn’t help but glare at her. She had promised not to tell anyone. Anyone.

Harry’s mouth was hanging open as he starred at us for a moment and he burst out laughing loudly.

“Thanks a lot.” I muttered, looking at Coco and her eyes softened a little as she reached out to grab my hand.

“I love you.” She mouthed after a moment but I just rolled my eyes at her.

“Good for you. I hate you.” I replied and she chuckled along with Harry.

“You two have the weirdest relationship.” Harry stated, shifting a little in his seat.

“Talking about weird relationships,” Coco started out, pulling her legs onto the couch and crossing them before sitting up straight and looking directly at Harry. “What’s that thing with you and Taylor Swift?”

Harry looked up at me for a moment before he turned back towards Coco. “Well, what’s there supposed to be?”

“I don’t know, but I saw pictures of you and her on my tumblr.”

“You have a- She has a tumblr?” Harry asked looking at me and pointing at Coco overdramatically.

“You should be glad she isn’t talking about gay fanfiction right now.” I replied, grinning at him but he didn’t seem to think that was funny.

“You two talk about gay fanfict- Well, I’m not surprised you don’t have a healthy sex life then!” He exclaimed half serious, half joking. A moment later a pillow came flying across the room and crashing against his head.

“I told you, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told Harry about it.” Coco said for the tenth time. “But you have to admit, it was hilarious in that moment.” She tugged on my arm and I frowned deeply, trying to suppress any sort of smile that could force it’s way onto my face. Coco kept squeezing my hand. Much to my dismay I was pretty sure she knew I thought it was funny. She was good at reading me and I found it hard to keep anything from her.

Trying to avoid her eyes I looked down the street we had been walking on as I tugged on her hand to pull her around as corner, closer towards a little park a couple of blogs away from the house. After the heated pillow fight she had put us through for Harry’s comment on our sex life, we had both felt like getting some fresh air and agreed on going for a walk since we hadn’t really been doing anything all day so far. But until now all the walk had consisted of was her apologizing for telling Harry about the little incident almost two weeks back now.

“It’s okay.” I said finally and she looked up at me, her eyes sparkling brightly. “He didn’t take it too bad, I guess.” Still smiling she stood on her tippy toes for a moment, pressing a quick kiss on my cheek before we continued walking, plastering a very content grin on my face as well.

“We could go home and practice, you know.” She proposed nonchalantly, smirking at me a little. I shook my head lightly as we kept walking and Coco look up at me. “Not today? Well, how long has it been?”

“Three days.” I replied, blushing a little though I didn’t really know why.

“Well, if you would let me spend the night at yours it wouldn’t have been three days.”

“There’s no doubt of that.” I said snorting. “But I still do have work to do, and you staying over at mine probably wouldn’t make it easier for me to get up at six in the morning.”

She nodded quietly next to me. “Hmm.. That’s also because I’m a big fan of morning sex.” I felt my face get hotter and stopped walking unwillingly. “You okay?” She asked innocently, honestly not noticing what her words did to me.

“Could you maybe not-?” I asked, but she looked a little confused.

“Could I maybe not.. what?”

“Talk to me about sex while we’re walking down the street. Because all I wanna do right now is to rip of your clothes and show you my opinion on morning sex.” I rambled and the words were out my mouth before I knew what I was saying. Coco starred at me for a moment and then a wide grin spread across her face, before erupting into laughter.

“You’re really cute, when you are like that.” She said, placing one of her hands against my cheeks and I blushed lightly. “We could go home right now if you wanted to, you know.”

As I didn’t reply right away Coco just brought both her hands up to my face and pulled it down until her lips met mine, moving together lazily. I let my arms wrap around her hips as I felt her fingers curl around the hair in my neck and tug on it playfully. As we pulled back to gasp for air Coco let her fingers snatch the beanie off my head quickly and pull it onto hers instead. I grinned and reached up to adjust it for her, while smiling down at her lovingly. Her eyes were sparkling beautiful as ever as I stroked over her cheeks, loving the look in her eyes and the way she eased into my touch.

“You should give me that beanie back, or people are gonna recognize me.” I said quietly, tugging on some strands of her hair.

“You wear beanies all the time, people are gonna recognize you anyways.” She replied with a pout.

“Humor me here.”

Frowning deeply she pulled the hat of her head, fixing her hair a little before putting I back onto my head. She adjusted it for me like I had done it before for her and I smiled as she placed a quick kiss on the tip of my nose as she was done.

“Okay, let’s go.” I said after another moment and took her hand to pull her with me.

“Are we gonna go practice?” She asked sounding excited, but I just rolled my eyes once again at her, continuing to stroll down the street.


	30. Chapter 30

Scrollan’s POV:

„Hmm, what are you doing there, babe?” Niall asked as he approached me from behind and snaked his arms around my waist, making me squirm under his touch.

“Just cleaning up.” I mumbled as I wiped some more crumbs off the counter, letting them fall into the sink before rising it with water. Niall’s arms still wrapped around me I shuffled across the kitchen a little, placing the dishes we had used earlier for our lunch in the dishwasher.

“Have you quite finished?” Niall asked, growing obviously impatient and letting his hands slip into the front pockets of my jeans. I hummed in response and let him spin me around, towering over me and beaming down with sparkling eyes. I giggled as his grip let go of my hips and slightly wandered up my body to slip underneath my shirt and run along the exposed skin.

“That tickles.” I said in between more silent laughter and tried to push his hands away, but Niall wouldn’t let me and caught hold of my wrists instead. He groaned quietly as I tried to fight his tight grip and grinned widely when he realized that I wasn’t going to get free anytime soon. Still holding onto my hands tightly he leaned in, letting his lips wander over mine before turning his head to the side and kissing down my cheek teasingly until he reached the line where my jaw met my neck, sucking on the skin delicately biting down on it now and then.

A soft moan escaped my lips and I breathed his name, distracting him enough for me to wriggle my wrists out of his hold and to bring them up to his hair, gripping onto his blond streaks rather tightly. He gasped in surprise and let his hands fall down to my hips, before letting his fingers hook through my belt loops and pressing me back against the kitchen counter.

I chuckled against his neck as his hands pressed against my hips firmly and lifted me up to sit on top of the counter, spreading my legs right away so he could stand in between my knees, while letting more kisses run up and down my cheek before finally pressing our lips together. I opened my mouth as his tongue pressed against my bottom lip and bit down onto it playfully, causing Niall to wince slightly from the pain, but only causing him to dig his fingers deeper into my hips.

And just as my mind wandered off a little, praying to God for none of the other boys to show up (we were at their house after all) somebody had to stumble through the kitchen’s door. Of course. I silent but awkward cough made me let go of Niall and peer over his shoulder to see Louis stand in the doorway. Niall turned around as well, though not letting go of my hips despite the uneasiness of the situation.

“Why do you even have your own flat, mate?” Louis asked a little annoyed, not sure where to look. He didn’t look too uncomfortable though, casually leaning in the doorway, one of his hands dug into his jeans pocket.

“Keep forgetting you guys are here.” Niall mumbled as a very lame excuse. Very lame. Louis rolled his eyes at him.

“Now take this to your bedroom before we’ll have to disinfect all pans and pots.” He said, sounding amused and pointing over his shoulder vaguely in the direction of the staircase. Niall laughed a little and poked both my calves, giving me the sign to wrap my legs around him. I did as he wanted me to and as soon as I had clung my arms around his neck to steady myself he let his hands lock underneath my butt and picked my up swiftly walking past Louis out of the kitchen. I heard Louis mumbled something under his breath as we past him but I didn’t really care, because Niall used his thumbs to cheekily pinch my butt and I squealed like a little girl in his arms as he carried me through the house, up to his room.

Both of us laughing Niall stumbled through the door to his room and almost fell before reaching the bed. A little breathlessly he dropped me onto it before climbing up next to me, letting my body curve into his.

“Good thing Zayn didn’t walk in on us again.” I said, smirking up at Niall who started laughing at my words.

“Well, we were just kissing this time. It’s hard to believe that there’s something left that would shock Zayn anymore, right?”

I giggled, nodding slightly. Zayn really somehow had this thing where he kept walking in on Niall and me. And it wasn’t always just kisses. The very last encounter had probably been the most awkward when Zayn had caught me giving Niall head in the living room. To our defense all we had to say was that all the boys had said they were gone for the night and we hadn’t really expected Zayn to be back only an hour after leaving. But no matter what we said it obviously didn’t erase the pictures from Zayn’s brain and as awkward as he – and also Niall – considered that indecent I mostly thought it was funny, whilst feeling kind of sorry for Zayn. Poor boy.

“Yeah, maybe we should go to my flat then the next time.” Niall said after a moment of silence, sounding deep in thought.

“Does that mean I get to stay over at your flat finally?” I asked, glancing up at him.

“We’re not having sex, if that’s what you’re hinting at.” He said firmly, tough a slight smile was tugging on the corners of his lips. I pouted a little, rolling away from him but Niall just laughed quietly, being already used to this kind of behavior from me. “Stop pouting, silly girl.” He said, nudging my side trying to get me to turn over again.

“This is ridiculous.” I said sitting up and looking down at him. He pulled back his hand, crossing his arms behind his head and gazing up at me without saying a word. “I mean- Seriously. How many girls beg their boyfriends for sex and get denied and rejected anyways?”

He chuckled lowly, still looking up at me and taking his time before he answered. “Well, first of all: You’re not exactly begging. And second of all: I’m not denying or rejecting you, all I’m-”

“Sleep with me then.” I prompted glaring at him. He pursed his lips and I knew he was suppressing the urge to roll his eyes at me. “See.” I said as a response to his silence, which clearly meant no. “Rejection.”

“Scrollan.” He said a little annoyed as he sat up so he was on eye level with me. “Will you listen to me?” His tone was soft but had something annoying to it. I didn’t want to be treated like a three-year-old and even though I knew it wasn’t of much help either, I refused to reply to him. But Niall took my silence as a yes anyways and just proceeded talking. “You know that I want to sleep with you, right?”

“No, I-” Niall pressed his index finger to my lips, effectively stopping the words from flowing out of my mouth. His question had been rhetorical. Or maybe I just wasn’t giving the answer he wanted to hear.

“I do want to sleep with you. I really do. But I also want it to be special. I want you to enjoy it.. as much as I do. Or did.” The sincerity in his voice caused shivers to run down my spine. We had talked about this before. But not quite like this. Not quite in this heartfelt way. “And as I keep telling you, I won’t last if you just pounce onto me right now. It’s not going to be fun for you and even less so when I’m going to be all grumpy the days afterwards.” He nudged my side. “It’s not like we haven’t been there, right?” A tiny smile crept upon my lips and as Niall caught it he knew he had won.

“You know, it’s also not entirely my fault.” He stated as he scooted a little closer towards me.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if you weren’t so sexy and hot and all over me, maybe I would last then. Because I have before, you know..”

“You’re such a cheese ball. Seriously, Niall.” He smirked down at me as I rolled my eyes at his ridiculous comments. “You’re just trying to get me to suck you off again.”

“Well is it working?” He asked with a wide grin and I shook my head in disbelieve as I climbed on top of him, pressing my lips against his as I lightly pressed him down against the mattress. He really knew how to surprise me sometimes. Shy and awkward about anything physical the one moment and like this the next.

And how I liked it.

A little later that day Niall chased me out of his room and down the hallway and stairs, through the entire house for yet another cheeky comment I hadn’t been able to keep to myself and I didn’t think I could ever get tired of the way his cheeks started turning red before he jumped up, growling my name and reaching out or me. I laughed loudly as I bolted down the stairs and ran into the living room where Harry and Louis were sitting on one of the couches, playing a card game and looking up as I came running into the room, screaming like a maniac. I ran around the couch to bring it in between me and Niall, breathing heavily as I spun around and saw him standing across from me. Resting my hand on my chest I tried to catch my breath, grinning at Niall who made an effort to walk around the couch but I mirrored his movements, keeping us at even distance.

“I’m gonna get you.” He growled lowly and my eyes quickly darted down towards Harry and Louis who continued playing, looking rather unimpressed.

“It’s not like she hasn’t gotten you already today.” Louis said lamely, stressing the words in a weird way.

“Is all that sex even good for your knee?” Harry asked Niall without looking up, but cheering quietly as he apparently just made a smart move in the game. Niall’s face dropped a little at his words and I took advantage of his momentarily distraction and sprinted past him out of the living room, a little surprised not to hear him start after me. I stopped running as I reached the hallway and listened closely, trying to figure out if Niall was just creeping up on me. Though all I heard was the sound of somebody flopping onto the couch and when I shuffled back towards the door of the living room I saw Niall sitting with Louis and Harry.

“C’mon. I’m giving up.” He said as he looked up and saw me standing in the doorway, one of his hands reaching out for me. Slowly I walked closer and let myself fall onto the couch next to him, only carefully scooting closer as I feared he might start attacking me again. But then again, with Harry and Louis in the room and right next to us, he couldn’t really pin me to the couch and suck yet another love bite onto my already sensitive skin.

“Hey, are you coming for the dinner tomorrow?” Louis asked, distracting me from my own thoughts.

“Dinner..?” I asked a little confused and the words lingered in the air for a moment and I turned to face Niall.

“Yeah, I might have forgotten to tell you.” Niall admitted, grinning at me sheepishly. “I’m taking you out for dinner tomorrow.”

“We’re going all together.” Harry added, shuffling the cards now, ready for the next game.

“Yes, it’s um.. It’s all of us boys and, uh, Louis and Zayn are bringing their girlfriends and, well, Liam is bringing Danielle so I thought.. you might want to..”

Normally I would have teased him about it, made him say that he wanted me to got out with him, because for some reason asking me things like these always made him blush deliciously. But since I thought I had teased him enough lately, and Harry and Louis started glancing over at us I just nodded quickly, grabbing his hand to let our fingers intertwine.

“Dinner sounds great.” I said warmly and Niall let out a breath in relief and I watched his chest fall deeply, before it rose again letting his toned body show through his shirt. Somehow I just really couldn’t keep my hands of this Irish boy.

“Cool. The girls can’t wait to meet you.” Louis said making me jump a little. I had almost forgotten that he and Harry were in the room, too caught up with admiring my boyfriend’s body. I scowled myself for my own thoughts and shook my head lightly to get rid of the now clearly inappropriate toughts.

“Meet who?” I asked, still a little distracted.

“You. Their girlfriends want to meet you.” Niall said. “Eleanor and Perrie. And well, Danielle?” He added carefully, glancing over at Louis and Harry who just shrugged.

My mouth felt dry all the sudden and I wasn’t too sure whether I really wanted to meet those girls. I had seen them on my tumblr. They were beautiful, every single one of them. But what scared me even more was that they seemed to be like a little clique which surely wouldn’t need a new member. Especially not an average soon-to-go-to-college girl, which could neither sing nor model nor anything else that would be considered special.

I looked up at Niall who sensed my nervousness and squeezed my hands tightly before pressing a quick kiss onto my forehead. “It’ll be fine. They’re gonna love you.” He said stroking over my hair. “They get along so very well.”

And with that one last sentence all confidence I might have had was gone.


	31. Chapter 31

Lina’s POV:

I hadn’t talked to Coco in forever so it was save to say that I was rather delighted to get a text from her telling me to get my laptop ‘right now’ so we could skype. I giggled a little at the urgency in her text but shifted off my bed I had been laying on and grabbed my laptop quickly before shifting back onto the bed.

Only a few minutes later the little red light by my webcam flashed on and I heard Coco’s excited giggling even before her face appeared on my laptop screen.

“Liiina!”

“Coco!”

The first few minutes were random blabbering and sheer excitement over seeing each other again – even though it was just via the computer. Coco caught me up on how things were with her and Niall and I adored the way she kept blushing lightly as she rambled on about either how much she liked him or telling me about their latest sexual encounter and how for some reason everybody kept walking in on them.

“Talking about the other boys,” I started after she had finished yet another embarrassing but really funny story about Zayn getting a sneak peek at a little more than he would have liked. “How are they?”

“Ah, they’re all okay.” Coco replied, still a little red on her cheeks. “I mean they’re all being really nice, but I try to kind keep away from them. I mean Niall and I are at their house all the time and I just kinda feel like I’m intruding, you know?”

I nodded absentmindedly. “I’m sure they would tell you if you bothered them, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think they could tell Niall. They’re all really kind and polite.. most of the time.” She added at the time and a crooked smile crept upon her lips.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

She shook her head. “No, they’re really nice. Once we got past the first few seriously awkward moments, it was okay I guess. I mean I’m joining them for dinner tonight so I really can’t be as much of a pain in the ass as Louis keeps saying.”

I giggled. Of course they would be mocking her. “Well, dinner sounds fun. Any special occasion? Like winning another award or what not?”

“Nah.” Coco replied but the smile on her lips didn’t quite reach her eyes. “No award.”

“Anything else?” I asked carefully watching her expression carefully. And suddenly it dawned on my. I clasped my hand over my mouth. “Oh my God! Coco, you guys didn’t get engaged, did you?”

“Lina!” She cried, covering her eyes with her hands.

“Well, did you?” I asked a little unsettled, leaning closer towards the screen.

“Of course not! Jeez, what’s wrong with you? We’ve only been going out for a couple of weeks now.”

“Well, you never know.”

“God, Lina. Sometimes you really..-” Her words trailed off and I smiled weakly, fancying the thought of being a bridesmaid.

“Well, what’s the occasion, then?” I asked turning back to our previous conversation. “You seem a little nervous.”

“Heck yeah, I am.” Coco replied, brushing her hands trough her hair. “I, hmm- They have me meet their, uh, girlfriends. Like, the others, not Niall obviously.”

I giggled at her rambling. “So? That’s good right?” She made a face. “Well, if they have a dinner just so you can meet them that means that they kind of accept you, doesn’t it? Kind of shows that they expect you to stay around?”

Coco just shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m just scared because those girls they’re all in like.. a clique or whatever. And then I come strolling along, and, I mean, really what do I have to offer? I’m no model, no singer, no-”

“Oh come on!” I said leaning forwards again. “Coco, that’s the most ridiculous thing that’s ever come out of your mouth. Now stop worrying about that. They’re gonna like you for sure.” She tried to protest but I held up my hand for her to signal to not even try. Somehow she must have known that she would lose the argument either way because she gave up on fighting with me and just starred at me through the camera.

“Okay, now.” I tried lifting up the mood again. “What are you gonna wear?”

“Thank God you mention it!” She said in relief and got and stepped back from her webcam so I could see her entire body. “Do you think this is okay?”

http://www.polyvore.com/time_to_meet/set?id=67767510

I nodded in approval as she stepped closer towards her computer again.

“I was thinking about braiding my hair to go along with it, so I won’t be fiddling with it all night long.”

I smiled. Good idea.

Harry’s POV:

“Thanks again for taking us, mate.” Niall said as he climbed next to me in the passenger seat. I watched Coco get in through the rear-view mirror and smiled up at her as she caught my eyes.

“Ready?” I asked as I turned on the engine and pulled out of the little parking space in front of Coco’s house. Niall and I had spoken on the phone earlier and since my own flat wasn’t that far away from Coco’s place I offered to give the two of them a ride. So now we were all riding up to the restaurant we were meeting the others at. The place was a little out of town and as I pulled onto one of the larger streets on London leading us right out of town, Niall started fiddling with the radio and changed the station.

“You okay, Scrollan?” He asked turning his head to the side so he could glimpse at his girlfriend. Through the mirror I watched as she smiled up at him weakly, nodding slightly. “Don’t be nervous.” He continued reaching out to the back and squeezing Coco’s hand gently before turning back and glancing at me quickly. I looked back at him for a moment before gazing back on the street before us.

“What are you nervous about?” I asked, not looking at her, turning to the side instead as I passed a slower car. I looked up in the mirror as she didn’t answer and saw her shrug, not looking at me either. “Well, it’s not like you’re a mean person. And they’re not going to hate your for the color of your jacket.” I chuckled at my own words but Niall just turned to glare at me.

“Don’t bring up that jacket.” He said lowly, not wanting Coco to hear. But for the way she cringed in the backseat I knew she had heard. I looked back at Niall in confusion, cocking an eyebrow at him, expecting an answer. “Choosing that jacket took us fifteen minutes. She still hates it. And I’m not even kidding.” He said even quieter than before.

Glancing at her I saw that she was pouting, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“The color of the jacket doesn’t go with the ones of the shoes. It’s horrible.” Her voice was firm and I had a hard time not laughing at what she had said. Looking at Niall he shot me the ‘told you so’-look and I grinned.

“Nobody even notices that, babe.” Niall said carefully.

“Of course. Girls do!”

And Niall and I let it be.

“Her shoes and her jacket don’t go together.” Was the first thing I heard Eleanor whisper to Danielle as they stood together glancing at Coco who had just walked in, with Niall holding her hand. She had had a minor panic attack after I had parked the car and we had all gotten out and while I walked in to the restaurant right away, Niall stayed outside with her for a little longer trying to calm her nerves. I still didn’t quiet get what she was all so nervous about but I thought it was adorable how Niall was so helpless trying to get her to calm.

As I turned around to glance at the two girls who had spoken behind me I starred at them in confusion and surprise. Seriously who noticed whether shoes and a jacket went along together? Girls.

Niall pulled Coco a little closer towards him and casually wrapped and arm around her waist as they walked closer towards us and Louis came walking up from behind, grabbing Eleanor hands and dragging her with him to meet Coco.

I heard them exchange a few words, Coco actually not doing as bad of a job as I had expected – due to her nerves – because when Eleanor return she looked less pissed than she had been before walking up to her. Though when Liam came strolling by grabbing Danielle’s hand to go greet Coco as well the two girls passed and to Danielle’s question what Coco was like Eleanor just shrugged her shoulders, tilting her head to the side.

After a few quick words to Liam and Danielle, Niall reached out to pull Coco’s jacket off and took both hers and his to put them on a hanger. As he walked away Coco came walking closer to me, looking around a little awkwardly.

“Still feeling nervous?” I asked as I reached out for her arm to touch it in comfort. She eased into the touch a little, though not really looking comforted.

“Well, there’s still one left to go.” She stated, though it sounded more like a question. I looked around the room, carefully gazing over other people who were already eating, some of them looking up at us curiously. Zayn and Perrie weren’t here yet and just as I thought about it Coco shifted nervously her weight from one foot to another, gazing back to where Niall had disappeared. Though the next person walking through the little hallway leading in from the front door wasn’t Niall. It was Zayn, a beaming and excited Perrie in tow.

“Hey guys.” Zayn greeted all of us at once with a wave. From the corner of my eyes I saw Coco smile at him weakly, though her face dropped when suddenly Perrie’s gaze fell on her. The purple haired girl tugged her boyfriend’s sleeve who smiled down at her, before leading them both closer towards me and Coco.

“You’re Coco, right?” Perrie said right away and Coco looked paler than I had ever seen her. Comforting I squeezed her shoulder a little, also trying to encourage her to speak.

“Uhm.. Y-Yeah.” She coaxed out after a moment and I smiled a little at her awkwardness. Perrie beamed again, her eyes sparkling as she let go out her boyfriend’s hand.

“I’m Perrie.” She said stepping forwards and pulling Coco into a tight hug. I saw Perrie smile happily and Coco’s face was turned away from me but judging from the amused expression on Zayn’s face who was facing her she must have looked pretty shocked. “It’s so nice to meet you.” Perrie concluded before she let go of her.

A light chuckle made us all turn around and I spotted Niall who had walked up behind us, grinning fondly as he had probably seen the way Perrie had pounced on his girlfriend. He placed his hand on the small of Coco’s back, kissing her on top of her head quickly before turning towards us, causing a light blush to creep onto her cheeks.

“She’s gorgeous.” Perrie complimented, looking at Niall and I had a hard time not laughing at the way Coco blushed even more at her words, not to mention the way her face almost exploded when Niall replied “I know.”


	32. Chapter 32

Scrollan’s POV:

I had been almost positive that the worst part of the evening had been done once I had been introduced to the three girls, but then the actual dinner came along. Which gave my world a new definition of awkward.

We were all seated along a large table, two couples on each side and Harry sitting on the head of the table, showing off his dimple-smile to anyone who’d look. Niall was sitting to his left and I was right next to him, Liam and Danielle by my other side. Across from me was sitting Perrie who was still beaming happily, holding hands with Zayn under the table who was sitting to her left and casually chatting with Louis and Eleanor to her right.

I still hadn’t really made up my mind about the girls, but one thing I knew for sure was that Eleanor and Danielle were close. Like really close. They would stick their heads together every now and then and whisper secretively while gazing around the room sometimes or just blandly starring at me. It wasn’t that I didn’t like them, but I came to think that they had no interested in liking me – which I understood in a way, after all I was the weird new kid – and thus they kept together barely speaking to anyone besides each other and their boyfriends the entire night.

Perrie on the other hand was the complete opposite. She had this constant smile on her face and even though she had taken me a little by surprise when giving me a full on heartfelt hug before even speaking a full sentence with me I had come to like her. Because she was loud and happy and talking and giggly and she kind of reminded me of myself. Well, when I wasn’t the awkward new kid who didn’t know what to say.

Throughout the entire meal she kept asking me questions, appearing to be so interested in every little thing I had to say which totally confused me. I kept trying to ask questions about her, because after all she was the one who was all famous and had such an exciting life, but she didn’t seem to like to talk about it and I decided not to press on it and kept telling her about my plans for college and how I was to start rather soon.

“Oh wow. I wish I could go back to college. I’m so jealous of you.” I laughed at her words. She was jealous of me? More like the other way around. “What do you go for anyways?”

“Uh..” I felt Niall’s hand wander up my leg underneath the table and squeeze lightly in encouragement. “I want to be a physiotherapist.”

“Really?” Her eyes grew wide. “So cool! I bet you’re good with your hands.”

I saw Zayn smirking at Niall who couldn’t hide a wide grin spreading across his face. “Amen to that!” He commented, making Zayn and Harry laugh while Perrie looked up at him a little confused.

“Jeez, Niall.” I said swatting his arm, but giggling at his words anyways. As Harry and Zayn kept making suspicious comments and Perrie finally got the hang of what she had said and what the boys had read into it, Niall bent down towards me to press a quick kiss onto my cheek.

“You’re a horrible boyfriend.” I said quietly and he chuckled into my ear, his breath hot against my neck.

“But you love me.” He replied, still chuckling a little.

“I do.” I said, feeling my face getting hotter just a tiny bit but I didn’t care anymore when I saw Niall’s dazzling smile.

“Aww, you two are so cute. Aren’t they, Zayn?” Perrie told her boyfriend fondly watching Niall and me, beaming at us in amazement.

“Well, Coco I’m so glad there finally is another girl in this group.” Perrie said scooping some of her ice cream onto a spoon, completely ignoring Eleanor and Danielle at the other end of the table. “We could hang out and stuff. You’re going to be around, right?”

“I- Yeah, I guess.” I replied a little unsure as to what her words were hinting at. “I mean, my college is in London, so..”

“Good.” Perrie smiled happily and I smiled back, catching Zayn’s eyes who was looking at me.

“Maybe you two could to lunch sometime.” He suggested and Perrie shoved him with her elbow. I bit down onto my lip in order to stop giggling at her playful gesture, at which Zayn groaned anyways.

“I don’t need my boyfriend to set me up for play dates.” She told him, but smiling widely at me before saying “So, Coco. We should do lunch sometime.”, leaving me and all three of the boys on this end of the table laughing at her words.

“Yes, we should.” I agreed, happy that at least one of the three girls was making an honest effort of being nice and maybe even being a real friend. The two couples at the other end of the table weren’t looking quite as happy, Liam and Danielle keeping mostly to themselves while Eleanor and Louis were talking quietly, though non of them tried to engage in our conversation.

“It’ll be so much fun.” Perrie cheered excitedly. “We can do lunch, or catch a movie, or go shopping. Maybe go out for drinks sometime, like, do a double-date.” Niall and I glanced at each other quickly before we nodded slightly. I kind of liked the idea, but Perrie already started rambling again and I wasn’t sure if she even care whether Niall and I were interested or not.

“And you’re going to be here for all the shows, right? We can be backstage, and at the after show parties. And when the boys get invited to some fancy get together. And for Zayn’s and I’s wedding. And when-”

“You and Zayn are engaged?” I blurted out. I hadn’t ever heard about this before.

“No, not exactly.” That was probably why. I just starred at her with a puzzled expression on my face, waiting for her to elaborate further. “Well, someday I’m gonna make him ask me and then you can be my bridesmaid.” I kept starring at her, somewhere between stunned by how confident she was just blandly talking about marriage like that, flattered by how she wanted my to be her bridesmaid and plain amused by the expression on Zayn’s face.

“Now, you’re telling me again my girlfriend has me whipped!” Niall said laughing, just as amused by Zayn’s facial expression as I was.

Zayn’s POV:

We were done with the dinner some time past 10pm and after we had paid, strolled out the doors into the cool night air. I held Perrie’s hand in mine and squeezed it tightly as she pulled her jacket a little closer around her shoulders.

“Alright. Anybody up for a late night drink, now?” Harry asked and I watched in amusement as Niall’s eyes lit up a little. “We could go back to the house. Liam and I went shopping the other day, stocking up on liquor so we should be good.” I glanced over at Liam as Harry mentioned his name and from the way Danielle tugged on his arm I knew he wasn’t going to come along.

Fortunately Liam and Danielle were the only ones to head home early, leaving back a still pretty large group to stroll back to the house. I had a hard time detaching Perrie from Coco who were standing together already, chatting away as we said our goodbyes to Liam and his girlfriend, chatting a little before we all took off.

“Let’s go babe.” I said tugging on her sleeve, Niall standing behind Coco copying my motion silently. Perrie looked up at me for a moment before turning back around to face Coco, saying a last few words through some girlish giggling before hugging her goodbye and walking towards my car with me.

“You know you’re gonna see her again in like twenty minutes at the house, don’t you?” I asked as I started the engine once we had both gotten inside the car and buckled up.

“Yeah.” Perrie nodded. There was a silence for a moment and I waited for her to fill me in on the thoughts obviously wandering through her mind. I saw her brows furrow a little underneath her purple banks before she spoke. “ I like her. You were right.”

I grinned. “Told you she was really nice.”

“Well, that’s what you said about Dani and El as well and I never really got along with them either, so..”

“But you and Coco get along.” I stated, gazing at her.

“We do.” Perrie confirmed happily. “I guess now I’ll be coming with you for the next fancy occasion.”

I smirked. “Maybe even visit me on tour, eh?”

“We’ll think about that.” Her face mirrored mine. Happy and flirty, content with how the night had gone so far. I was glad Perrie was so very happy and that she was getting along with Coco. Ever since we had been dating and I brought her with me whenever Louis and Liam brought their girlfriends as well, it had been slightly awkward for her and I felt bad about that. Danielle and Eleanor were really good friends, a little touchy at times and hadn’t made it easy for Perrie to get in with them. Resulting in Perrie not wanting to come along anymore, which was hard on our relationship for a while but after I had started putting two and two together, I understood and let go. I never told her that I (thought I) had figured out the way the relationships between those three girls worked, but as I told her about Niall dating now and me thinking her and his girlfriend would get along quite way her eyes lit up in a way that was beautiful beyond reasoning and I had looked forward to introducing the two ever since.

And seeing now how well they really did get along made it even better. Perrie hadn’t stopped smiling all night long, making me think I fell in love with her even more that night. It was until later at the house though that I had the slight feeling that Perrie on the other hand had started loving me less that night, devoting all her attention to Coco.

“They get along.” Harry noticed, standing next to me in the living room. We were both facing the patio and watched the two girls he had been speaking about, sitting on garden furniture laughing about something Perrie had said, their faces glowing golden in the warm light coming from a lantern on the table, illuminating the apart from that pitch black yard.

I hummed. “Wished they didn’t get along quite that well.”

“Have you been ignored all night?” Harry assumed and I just nodded, making him laugh. Niall stepped next to us, a drink in his hand, and Harry laughed at the expression on his face showing that he was as little pleased as I was about our girlfriends abandoning us.

“I’ll go get them.” He murmured stepping towards the glass door that led onto the patio and Harry and I gazed at each other quickly.

Niall’s plan didn’t quite work so five minutes later him and I were actually forced to sit with the girls, barely allowed to speak while they kept chatting on about fashion and beauty products and what not. Just all that kind of stuff that I really didn’t want to witness a twenty minute conversation about.

“Good job.” I mouth towards Niall with a glare and he just shrugged apologetic gazing back inside where Harry and Louis had turned on the TV and started watching some show. I heard Perrie yelp out in excitement and turned to watch her eyes glow, starring at Coco.

“Oh my Gosh, are you coming to ‘Pleasure Beach’ with us?” She almost shouted and it sounded a lot more like a statement then an actual question.

“Pleasure what?” Coco asked a little confused, gazing up at Niall carefully trying to figure out what Perrie was talking about. “I..”

“’Pleasure Beach’!” Perrie cheered and I felt a little embarrassed for her hyped behavior, making a mental note to teach her some decency. “The roller coaster park. We’re all going next weekend.” I looked up at Niall who looked a little taken aback, as if that information just dawned on him

“Oh yeah.” I said drily and Coco looked up at him again. “Yeah, I was gonna ask you about that. I kinda, uhm.. forgot. I guess.”

Coco looked a little flustered as she looked from her boyfriend over to Perrie and back at Niall. The situation had obviously thrown her off, Perrie pouncing on her with such excitement while Niall seemed a little off key himself.

“I-I don’t.. know. I’ll have to see.. if I have time.” Coco said finally, but Perrie leaned forward to grab her hand and tug on it before chanting at her.

“No!” She stretched the word incredibly long. “You have to come. It’s going to be so much fun. And we’re all going! Please?” Even though I was sitting behind her and I couldn’t see her face, from the way she tilted her head to the side I knew Perrie was pulling up her special puppy look she got out every once in a while whenever she really wanted something. And so far I hadn’t found a way to say no to her when she looked at me like that. And apparently neither had Coco.

“Okay, fine.” She agreed, making Perrie’s eyes beam even more then before.


	33. Chapter 33

Scrollan’s POV:

A little over a week later I was seated in a large van, squished between Harry and the window, tiredly gazing over at the others who were all sitting, or maybe rather laying than sitting, in their seats dozing off a little as the van sped down the highway towards ‘Pleasure Beach’ amusement park.

After Perrie had asked me to come along a couple of days ago I hadn’t really had the chance to say no, especially after Zayn seemed to be very excited over this whole idea of Perrie and me spending time together. Niall had told me that Eleanor’s and Danielle’s closeness had always been hard on Perrie and that I shouldn’t be too surprised if she started being a little clingy. And I didn’t really mind, because if Niall and I were going to last I would have to spend a lot more time with those three girls and if at least one of the was my friend things would be a lot easier.

I weakly smiled at Perrie who was sleeping, her head resting against Zayn’s shoulder. They were sitting across from me and even though they were the cutest thing ever, it only reminded me of why I didn’t want to go with them this weekend. I much rather would have stayed at home. And the reason for me wanting to stay home called me in just that moment, causing Liam to turn his head and look the source of the loud ring tone in annoyance before I answered the phone and spoke in a hushed voice.

“Hey Niall.” I said quietly, looking around a little trying not to wake anybody else.

“Hey princess. How’re you doing?” He sounded a lot more excited than most people did at 7 in the morning.

“Okay.. Tired. I wanna go home.”

“Oh sweety.” He chuckled. “Now, don’t be upset. It’s going to be fun.”

“No it’s not. I wanted you to come.”

He chuckled. “I know, I know. I really wanted to come as well. But you know I can’t, I told you that.”

I groaned. Yeah, he had told me and yeah, technically he had a good reason but I still wanted him to choose me over his pregnant cousin. On Thursday I had gone to visit him at the studio where him and the boys were doing some work and brought along some lunch (Nando’s of course) for him to enjoy while we sat together and talked. Niall had told me that his cousin was moving and needed help lifting the heavy stuff since she couldn’t really do it with her baby-belly. I had thought that he was being so cute and told him that I thought that was a good idea – until he told me that her moving date was the same day of our ‘Pleasure Beach’-trip.

“I can’t go without you!” I had protested. “These are your friends. I’m just the bring-along.”

“No you’re not!” He had replied snorting, insisting that they wanted me to come just as much as they wanted him to. That was also the moment he used to tell me about Perrie and how he wanted me to make an effort in being friend with her. And I did, she was really nice, but I had wanted Niall to come along anyways.

I glanced around the van, making sure everyone was still asleep.

“You just chose a pregnant girl over me.”

“I did not, stop being silly.” Niall protested, sounding a little amused. “How the hell was I supposed to tell my eight months pregnant cousin that she’d have to lift her couch and shelf herself, because I was busy riding roller coasters?”

I grumbled in response, knowing fairly well that he was right. Didn’t mean I couldn’t mess with a little bit.

“Stop the pouting, Scrollan. You know I would have come if I could.”

“If you say so.”

I heard him laugh beautifully on the other end of the line. “Oh, will you cut the act? You’re adorable when you’re all silly and pouting.”

“I’m not silly!” I protested, my voice still very low. Looking up I saw Louis stir a little in the front seat but he didn’t wake.

“Yes your are. But in a really cute way.”

“I’ll show you ‘a cute way’.”

“Oh will you?” A smirk evident in Niall’s voice he kept teasing me. “I’d love to see that.”

“Do you now?” I snapped back, not happy with how this conversation was going. I was supposed to have the upper hand, making him feel all bad about leaving me to go with out him. But instead of my plan working out Niall turned the conversation around to be all flirty and just careless banter.

“Maybe if you’re a good girl and nice to Perrie all day I might let you show me tonight.” He said back seductively, though that was completely unnecessary; he already had all my attention anyways.

“Oh yeah?” I asked back, not sure whether we were talking about the same thing here. “How do you want me to show you?” Niall chuckled probably at how ridiculously my voice had to be sounding. I tried to keep it quiet but at the same time it hitched weirdly and my breath picked up speed making me feel a little dizzy.

“Well, I was thinking maybe you could come over to my flat tonight when you guys get back from your little trip? You know.. try again.” He stretched the last words and left no doubt of what he was talking about. I swallowed hard, suddenly becoming aware of the fact that I was still squished in the van with seven other people, discussing sex on the phone.

“I.. that sounds good.” I replied, trying to keep my voice as steady as possible.

“Okay, now. Be good. I gotta go, heading off to my cousin’s now. Text me later.” He concluded the phone call and we just said a few more words before he hung up and I gazed out the window, still a little thrown off about what we had talked about.

And those thoughts we’re going to let go of me. All day long.

Niall’s promise kept my thought occupied pretty well until we reached Blackpool and got closer and closer to the amusement park by the minute. Every one in the car was awake by now, almost bouncing up and down in excitement.

“I haven’t been to a roller coaster park in years.” Liam said and his eyes grew wide as we took another turn and all of us could now see the gigantic loop of one of the roller coasters reaching up high into the air. “Wow.”

“Aren’t you so excited?” Perrie asked as she leand forward a little and grabbed my hand.

“Meh.” I smiled back weakly. “Not too big of a fan of heights.”

“Nu-uh!” Louis turned around in his seat swiftly to look at me. “Seriously? We’re gonna have so much fun dragging you with us to all the rides.” Everyone laughed and I joined heir carefree laughter though I made a mental note for myself to stay away from Louis just in case he considered it funny to simply grab me and tie me onto one of the higher rides, possibly even a roller coaster.

Fortunately it turned out that I wasn’t the only one not too fond of heights and so we spend the first few hours of our stay in the park mostly just strolling around, looking at the cute little decorations. Perrie, Danielle and Eleanor had their boyfriends in tow and it had become my task to make sure Harry didn’t run off. Luckily he turned out to be rather obedient that day and just shuffled along quietly, but contently smiling as we went for yet another slow and easy ride.

“Wouldn’t want to scare the girls, would we?” He joked with Louis who laughed loudly before climbing into a little boat which floated around a little trail slightly leaning to the side as we all scramble in.

“Sush, we’re not scared!” Perrie said pouting and I chuckled at her words.

“Yeah, you are, sweety.” Zayn said squeezing her hand gently and receiving an angry glare from her.

For lunch we all decided to sit down in one of the park’s restaurants and had some pizza for all of us to share. It tasted good but it wasn’t before I actually started chewing on the food that I realized how hungry I had been. We had had to leave so early in the morning that I hadn’t had anything for breakfast besides a cup of coffee, which looking at it now had been a stupid idea.

“Hungry, huh?” Zayn asked with a smirk as I reached out for my second piece. I just nodded, my mouth still filled with food.

“Well, roller coaster parks are exhausting.” Danielle reasoned from the other end of the table and I looked up at her. Liam nudged her shoulder with his and laughed.

“It’s not exhausting yet. We haven’t even started doing all the fun rides!”

And with fun rides Liam meant the scary rides. The high ones. The fast ones.

I felt uneasy as we left the restaurant a little later, making our way to the first torturous ride the boys had picked. But as we reached the gates I was relieved to see that I wasn’t the only one feeling a little uncomfortable. Perrie – of course – joined me anyways but as it turned out that Danielle and Eleanor felt more secure with both feet on the ground as well and we decided to go for some coffee together while the boys went to wait in line to ride that monster of a roller coaster.

While sitting together and enjoying some peace and quiet without five – or today four – crazy goofballs around, I finally had some time to speak to Eleanor and Danielle personally and with some time to get to know each other. As it turned out they weren’t as mean, slightly rude or taken in by themselves at all as I had thought as first. But as we kept on talking about life, sharing a few good laughs I also realized that their way of looking at things was a lot different from mine, and also from Perries. I saw how she thought it was hard catching up with the two. They seemed so much more mature and settled, knowing exactly where they place in life was. Perrie, and especially I, on the other hand were a little more lost, crazy and still trying to find ourselves or ‘balance our chakra equally’ as Danielle put it.

Three hours and a lot of crazy rides for the boys and another round of tea for us girls later, we sat all together again on some benches just by the exit of the boys’ last ride.

“Are you sure you don’t wanna try it?” Harry asked, looking at all of us with big eyes.

“I guess we’re good, actually.” Eleanor replied, smiling but her voice was very firm. She glanced at Danielle who gave a comforting nod and smiled at Harry as well.

“You’re such cowards.” Zayn teased and Perrie swat his arm.

“We’re not!” She replied stubbornly and I enjoyed their loving banter.

“Oh, you’re not? Come ride with me then!” He challenged her and I saw her biting her bottom lip, obviously thinking about what to do or what to say. Her inner struggle was almost visible and I grinned down at her until her eyes wandered up to meet mine.

“Are you gonna go as well?” She asked and I coked my eyebrows at her in surprise. Me? On a roller coaster?

“Hell no.”

“Oh, please, please, please! I don’t wanna go alone.” She said motioning weakly towards the entrance of the ride.

“’Cause you’re a coward.” Zayn chuckled in the background but she ignored him.

“Perrie, I’m scared of heights. I don’t think it’d be-”

“Please, Coco, please? You’d be the best roller coaster buddy ever, please.” She kept begging, nudging my shoulder, encouraging me to get up with her. “You could tell Niall how brave you were riding the roller coaster with me.” Or I could tell Niall how nice I’d been to Perrie all day long and what a good friend I was being for her. Because after all he promised that if I was being nice to Perrie all day I would get to-

“Fine, I’ll go.” I said and she jumped from one foot onto the other in delight.

“Yey. It’s going to be fun. Hopefully.” She added and made a face, not exactly strengthening my courage.

Twenty minutes later I found myself, Perrie and Zayn standing in line for a roller coaster named ‘Infusion’ and I felt my stomach turn every time we heard another group of people scream as the ride sped up quickly, took an unexpected turn and dove deep down faster than my mind could comprehend.

“Looks fun, doesn’t it?” Zayn asked with a smirk on his face, knowing exactly that this didn’t look fun to neither Perrie nor me. This time it was me to swat his arm and Perrie just nodded in approval. “Oh, c’mon girls, relax. It’s really not that bad. It’ll be over before you know it!”

“Hopefully.” I muttered and Zayn chuckled at the grumpy expression on my face.

“It will be, believe me. In the end you’re going to be mad at us for not dragging you onto one of the rides earlier already.”

“Hmm.” I hummed, though I was pretty sure that this wasn’t going to happen.

I grew even more sure of that opinion when we reached the front of the line and I just then realized that Zayn had maneuvered us to the front of the roller coaster. It wasn’t bad enough that I already had to ride this monstrous thing, now I even had to sit front row. Perrie seemed to realized the same thing a moment later because she grabbed Zayn’s hand with both of hers, squeezing it tightly.

“Shh.” Zayn cooed into her ear, looking at me while he did, as we all shuffled a little further up to the front. There were only a few people left in front of us and I figured we’d be up within a few minutes. My stomach started feeling weird again, turning over even though we hadn’t even left the ground yet.

I tapped my foot on the ground nervously waiting for all the people to get onto their own rides, leaving us to stand so very close to the gates. And as they opened once again Zayn lightly pushed me and Perrie forward towards the seats hanging down from the sealing. It was weird, I had seen a lot of roller coasters before but never one quite like this. It literally had no ground and as I slipped into the seat my feet lost contact with the ground, dangling in the air. Zayn showed me how to pull down the safety bar over my shoulders and pushed it deep down onto my chest before sitting in the seat next to me. Perrie was on his other side, her safety bar already keeping her straight up against the seat.

My heart was pounding like crazy and I felt my hands getting sweaty as one of the park’s workers came by to check if the safety bar was in place and then gave somebody at the back of the room sign that we were good to go.

As the seat underneath me slowly started moving forward as if moved by magic I looked down at my feet and saw them hanging above the ground, quickly rising higher and higher as the roller coaster led us up high above the other rides of the park. I felt sick and immediately regretted the decision of giving in to Perrie, or giving in to Niall who told me to be nice to Perrie. I would have given up any sort of sexual encounter with Niall for the next month for a chance of getting out of the seat right now. But it was too late.

We reached the top of the roller coaster and I carefully peeked down at the ground, squeezing my eyes shut right away again as soon as I saw how far away from the ground we really were. I heard Perrie yell something to my right and I also heard Zayn reply something to her but my brain wasn’t working and everything passed by in a haze as we rushed down and up again and twirled around and up and down again. I had my eyes shut the entire time and lost orientation, feeling as if being tossed around my waves in the water. Though waves would have been softer and probably more even. And waves also didn’t hurt.

The tossing around wasn’t too comfortable on its own but as suddenly the roller coaster stopped with an unknown force and I was thrown against the safety bar violently a new pain struck through my left arm and made me open my eyes in surprise, yelping out in pain as the back of my head hit hard against the seat. I saw white and black spots appearing and disappearing randomly in front of my eyes as my head fell forward and I gazed down at the ground so many yards below me.


	34. Chapter 34

Zayn’s POV:

The force of the impact threw me forwards against the safety bar and then back into the seat. I gasped out, trying to catch my breath while my vision got dizzy for a moment. Whoa.

“Zayn!” Perrie yelled out in fear next to me.

“Here, baby. Here.” I replied quickly holding up my hand for her to grab, since she couldn’t see me past the sort of neck support the seats had. Her finger intertwined with mine and for a moment I felt home before the strangeness of the situation hit me again.

“Why did the roller coaster stop?” Perrie asked, her voice starting to shake. I had been asking myself the same question but ran my thumb across the back of her hand trying to soothe her, though random “We’re all going to die!”-screams from the back of the roller coaster weren’t very helpful. Perrie kept whimpering my name and I tried to comfort her as much as possible, though I felt rather uncomfortable in the situation myself.

“Hey Coco, you okay over there?” I asked turning my head, though of course the neck support gave me no chance to look at her either. She groaned in response and I lifted my other hand for her to take, but she just touched it lightly before waving off and I leaned back into the seat.

“Attention, please!” A loud voice called over the speakers of the roller coaster which usually played fun music, but were dead silent now only crackling from the man’s voice. He spoke again and the general panic and wild blabbering in the background died down. “Attention, please. All guests sitting in ‘Infusion’ roller coaster. We need you to stay calm, everything is under control. Some technical issues have occurred and in your best interest we are going to stop your ride right here and will have you removed from the ride as soon as possible. Please, I can only ask this again, stay calm. We’re doing everything we can to get you down there as soon as possible. We’re sorry for the inconvenience.”

Sorry for the inconvenience? Inconvenience, really? This was not only a horrible ride but also pretty sure Perrie’s worst night mare. It surprised me how calm she was next to me, as apposed to several other girl sitting in the rows behind us, some sobbing out loud other crying for help. This was so stressful.

I kept squeezing Perrie’s hand, saying some soothing words every now and then, trying to figure out whether ‘calm’ equaled ‘good’. Because quite frankly Perrie seemed to be a little too calm and a little too relaxed considering that we were stuck in a roller coaster, hanging round about 60 feet above the ground with no help in sight.

“Are you alright, baby?” I asked and she hummed silently. I tried to lean forward to catch a glimpse at her face but my safety bar had me pinned to the seat pretty good and after a few more tries of leaning hard against the bar I gave up, sinking back into the seat. My shoulders hurt where the safety bar tug into my skin, leaving me wondering if I would have bruises there the next day. I was pretty sure I would, the impact had been pretty violently after all.

It took them almost fifteen minutes to get the problem figured out and some technicians on the way who’d help getting us out of the ride and another ten minutes for the paramedics to arrive. After they had arranged some sort of platform for all of us to climb onto before making our way away from the roller coaster back to the safe ground, the paramedics started letting us out of the seats with help of the technicians one by one. Internally I praised myself for dragging the two girls to the front of the roller coaster, because now we were the first ones to be let go of.

The started with Perrie and asked for her name and how she was feeling before a tall, already like a technician looking guy got to work on the safety bar and released her, leading her to the side where she stood and waited while I went through the same process. I told the paramedic hastily that I was feeling good and begged for her to let me go and so she did. I took two quick steps and wrapped my arms around Perrie who was shivering slightly but holding up a lot better than I thought.

“Please keep moving, guys.” Another paramedic told us who came walking up the stairs. I took a last glimpse at Coco, who was talking to the paramedic at the moment but then pulled Perrie down the stairs with me, thinking we would meet Coco downstairs.

After Perrie and I had reached safe ground again I pulled her close into another hug before even more paramedics came approaching us, pulling us apart and insisting on checking both of us. We let them go ahead, not loosing sight of each other while the checked out blood pressure, temperature and asked if we were feeling sick in any way.

Five minutes later they let go of us as more people came stumbling down the stairs from the roller coaster, all looking a little wrecked and carried away. I took Perrie’s hand and pulled her with me, though we only made a few feet before Louis and Harry came running towards us, their eyes wide in worry.

“Oh thank God you’re fine. We’ve seen it all.” Liam yelled as he approached us, holding both of us at arm length and examining us.

“Liam, the paramedics checked us, we’re fine.” I insisted but Liam didn’t seem quite satisfied.

“Where’s Coco?” Louis asked turning his head a little to look over where the paramedics were taking care of the people coming from the ride.

“I..” I started, turning to look in the same direction. “I don’t know, she was.. right behind us. She should be here.”

But she wasn’t.

Lucy’s POV:

I loved my job as a paramedic, I really did. And even more so when we were called to possibly really dangerous accidents and things turned out okay. So I smiled as I released the dark haired guy with the quiff and the pleading eyes who almost ran to the girl with the purple hair and hugged her with so much affection that I felt awkward watching. I felt like I was intruding a very intimate moment, so I looked away.

My eyes caught the ones of the girl in the seat next to where the boy had been sitting just a moment ago. She didn’t look nearly as good as the other two, her hair spread messily across her face with her eyebrows furrowed and her mouth twisted in pain.

“Hi, I’m Lucy.” I introduced myself, kneeling down to her. “I’m the paramedic and I’m here to check up on you. You’re in pain I’m guessing.” She nodded wordlessly. “Okay, uh, you are..?” My voice trailed off but the girl understood my question.

“Coco.” She coaxed out, sounding like it took her all of her strength.

“Okay, Coco.” I smiled, trying to give her some comfort. “We’re gonna get you help right away, here. Just tell me where it hurts.”

“Shoulder, arm. Neck.” She said vaguely motioning with right hand towards her left arm.

“Okay.” I replied, thinking. “Let’s get the safety bar removed first. I’ll try to stabilize your shoulder, but it might hurt anyways.”

The girl, Coco, nodded and I motioned for the technician who was still standing behind me to open the safety bar while I pushed back against the girls shoulder, trying not to move her. If she had broken any bones or maybe tore a chord, movement would only make it worse.

Apparently something about my assumption had been right, because as soon as the safety bar was moved she yelped out in pain and I saw her eyes flutter.

“Whoa, stay with me here!” I said snapping my free fingers in front of her face and she focused back on me. “Is the pain this bad?” She nodded again and I saw her swallow down some tears.

One hand still pressed against her shoulder I pulled up my bag with the other and looked for something to fix her shoulder with. A bandage would have to do for now, but I called for one of the ambulances to be ready to go as soon as we’d get down this roller coaster.

“We’re..” She breathed heavily. “We’re.. going to the h-hospital?” She didn’t sound too pleased.

“Yeah, sweety.” I replied to the now scared looking girl, while I wrapped the bandage around her shoulder one last time. “I can’t give you pain medicine here and also I’m pretty sure your shoulder was dislocated upon impact, not to mention a possible concussion.” She gasped and shivered, shaking in pain as the movement reached her shoulder. Maybe I shouldn’t haven thrown a full on diagnosis at her.

I had tried to support her and fifteen long and tear filled minutes later we finally reached the ground where an ambulance driver was waiting for us, a wheelchair in tow. Very smart. I cautiously directed her towards him and as the man looked up he came walking towards us. But before we reached him or we could even make another move a boy came sprinting towards us. He was rather short and had brown feathery hair, his eyes wide in fear as he came closer.

“Coco.” The girl looked up and smiled weakly as the boy reached us.

“Louis.”

“Oh God, what happened? What’s wrong with you?” He asked looking more at me than at her.

“She’ll be fine.” I told him as I directed Coco into the wheelchair the ambulance driver had brought. “We need to take her to the hospital though. Get her arm checked out and also look for any signs of a concussion.” As I spoke more people came approaching us, three boys and three girls. I recognized the dark haired boy and his purple haired girlfriend, who still looked a little shocked, and smiled at them.

I tried to get the ambulance driver to get the wheelchair going so we could get down to the hospital as soon as possible but as I turned I saw that the girl, Coco, had grabbed the feathery haired boy’s hand and held onto it for her dear life.

“Fine, uh, I guess one of you can come along, if you’d like. But only one.” I added quickly as almost all of them took a step forward.

“I.. Liam.” Coco said and a guy with really short hair and warm, worried looking eyes stepped forward right away. He took her hand into his, smiling encouragingly and I nodded for him to walk with us. As the ambulance driver pushed the wheelchair and Coco whimpered in pain every now and then, the boy – Liam – and I walked with them in silence until we reached the ambulance and I had to help the driver to move Coco from the wheelchair onto the stretcher.

The whimpers of pain and the silent whines made the boy cringe, but he stayed silent, squeezing Coco’s hand lightly as he sat down at the bottom of the stretcher. I moved to her head, looking down at her and soothingly talking to her as I placed a catheter for a vitamin infusion, also shooting some morphine down her blood. As it started to have an effect on her she seemingly calmed down and cried less, relaxing a little into the stretcher. The ride wasn’t long but I saw her eyelids flutter after a few minutes, watching her starting to get drowsy.

“Would you mind if I..?” The boy asked from the other end of the stretcher and I turned to see him holding up a cell phone.

“Go ahead.” I nodded, glancing outside. A few moments later the boy was quietly talking into his phone, his left hand still resting on Coco’ shin.

“Niall? Yeah, hey listen. I don’t wanna..” A silent pause as he listened to something the boy on the other end of the line, Niall, had to say. “No listen, Niall. Just a moment, okay.” He took a deep breath. “I need you to come up to Blackpool.” Confusion on the other end. “Erm, okay please don’t freak? There were technical issues with one of the roller coasters and now we’re well.. I’m on my way to the hospital with Coco. She’s fine! She’s fine.” He added hastily as Niall seemed to be freaking out. “No, really. She’s okay. Listen!” I only heard muffled voices from the little speaker on the phone and looked away in embarrassment, not wanting to give the impression that I was eavesdropping.

“Niall, please.” Liam begged, sounding a little worried now. “She’s alive and she most like will stay for the next sixty years.” Silence. “Oh, okay. Fine. Just don’t.. kill yourself on the way up here.” More silence. “Yeah, I will. Will do. See you later.” And with that he hung up.

I looked down at my hands, but Liam must haven known that I had been listening.

“Just a worried boyfriend.” He explained, nodding towards his phone with reddish cheeks. I smiled. “Hers! Her boyfriend.. not mine.”

My head snatched around as the mostly quiet girl suddenly made sounds and started gagging. Ah snap. I reached for a carton bowl and helped her sit up a little, despite the shivers running through her body in pain. With one hand on the bowl and the other supporting her back I had no chance to pull back her hair before she threw up in the bowl, chocking on her own saliva.

“Oh God.” Liam gasped from the other end of the stretcher.

“It’s alright.” I said, rubbing Coco’s back soothingly and trying to calm not only her but also her worried friend with my words. As she breathed calmer again tears started filling her eyes and I slowly let her lay down again, pushing some more pain killers down her IV.

“What does that mean?” The boy asked still looking a little shocked.

“Don’t worry, that’s perfectly normal.” I nodded slowly, glancing at Coco before I spoke again. “Feeling sick is a common symptom for patients with head traumas like a concussion.” Liam grew even paler under my words and so I decided to simply shut up for the moment.

When we reached the hospital I was the first one out the ambulance, handing the doctor waiting for us the chart I had filled out on the way and started reciting everything I wrote on there anyways.

“19 year-old female, picked up at the roller coaster accident in ‘Pleasure Beach’, complaining about shoulder, arm and neck pain. Shoulder had been stabilized in the field, vitals were stable all along, she threw up once so far and still complains about feeling sick. Other than that she’s respondent, but has been given morphine on the way here to soothe the pain.”

“Her eyes?” The doctor asked as we walked into the ER, some intern pushing the stretcher and Liam on our heels.

“Twitching, but always respondent.”

“Any other signs for head traumas?”

“The sickness of course. Also weakness, and she kept passing out on the way here.”

“Unconsciousness?”

“Sleep.”

“Alright.” The doctor replied again, taking in a deep breath. “I can check up on the shoulder myself, but I want Dr. Darcy to check her for any other traumas. McKinsley will you go get him?” The intern disappeared and I took over the stretcher pushing it the last few feet next to one of the beds, into which we moved her with one swift motion.

I pulled shut the curtains around the bed and then stood in silence as the doctor examined her. Liam stood being me, peeking past me curiously and in worry for his friend. Coco bit her bottom lip, suppressing yelp of pain as the doctor undid the bandage I had used to stabilize her shoulder. He started pressing down onto different parts of her arms and shoulder asking her to rate the pain, but soon enough coming to the same conclusion I had.

“Young lady, I’m afraid,” He said standing up “You have dislocated your shoulder. Easiest thing to do is to pop it right back in.” She nodded bravely. “Now, I’m gonna warn you, this is going to be quite painful. I suggest we wait for one of the nurses to come in and give you some pain killers first. You haven’t gotten the maximum of morphine yet.”

“No.” Coco coaxed out, making the doctor looked down at her in surprise.

“No?”

“Just do it. Wanna get it.. o-over with.” She stuttered in pain and as she bit down onto her lip again, Liam stepped in front of me and grabbed her hand sitting down on the edge of the bed.

“Scrollan.. Let them give you the medicine. We can wait a little longer. It’s not tha-”

“No.” She shook her head again. The doctor still looked surprised and shot a look at me before shrugging his shoulders.

“Well, okay. We’ll do it now, then.” He reached out for a scissor behind him on a table and started cutting open her shirt on the front and on the sleeves, pulling the front off her body. I smiled as Liam turned away his face and the doctor proceeded to cut open her bra, before removing it as well and only covering her chest with a sheet before positioning his hands on top and underneath her shoulder.

“You might wanna let go of her hand.” He said to Liam but as Coco only clinged onto his fingers tighter he shook his head and the doctor muttered something under his breath before counting to three for Coco.

“One.. Two..” He nodded at her. “Three.”

I had seen quite a few of joints being popped back in place during my time as a paramedic. It never was fun and even less so when the patients refused to take the pain killers. The loud cracking of Coco’s shoulder joint was only downed by the sound of her whimpers, muffled by her teethes biting down onto her lip. It looked painful as ever but I saw nothing good coming as her eyes flutter shut.


	35. Chapter 35

Scrollan’s POV:

Everything was dark and fuzzy around me and for a moment I felt disorientated. I realized that my eyes were closed and I tried to open them, feeling too tired to do so. A loud snapping sound coming from in front of my face finally forced me to push my eyelids open and gaze at the man standing above me. I recognized him, he was a doctor.

“There she is again.” He said happily and his eyes wandered to the other end of my bed. I followed his gaze and saw Liam standing there, his eyes wide in shock. My eyes felt heavy again and I blinked a few times, forcing me to keep them open as the doctor kept speaking, probably to Liam because I was too dizzy to even understand what the words he was saying meant.

As my eyes fluttered shut the doctor snapped his fingers in front of my face again and smiled down.

“You’re not passing out on me, are you?”

“I’m tired..” I started mumbling in response but as I opened my mouth a new wave of sickness hit me and before I knew it the doctor had another carton bowl in his hand, just like the one from the ambulance, and I threw up right into it while he supported my back. I didn’t care that the sheet fell off my chest and I sat pretty much bare chested in front of Liam, who just gaped at my while I was puking my heart out. I didn’t care about the nurse that came walking behind the curtain right away to help the doctor. I didn’t care about anything because the pain striking through my shoulder let my entire body go numb. I barely noticed when I done being sick and the doctor put me back in the bed, dressing me in one of the hospital’s gowns.

“That’s the second time.” I heard the nurse tell the doctor and her voice sounded far away.

“Dr. Darcy needs to look at her for sure. And I want her pules measured every half hour to make sure she’s only sleeping. Are you staying, young man?”

I heard Liam respond the the doctor’s words but my brain was too tired to process any more words and so I passed out, more than happy to find that the doctor finally let me rest and find some peace.

I was woken up by a new and unfamiliar voice, talking loudly as it came walking around the curtain. I was surprised by myself to distinguish between that one voice and all the other loud calls flowing through the ER, but my eyes fluttered open and I saw that I had been right. A man, looking almost too young to be a doctor stepped closer to the bed, smiling as he saw that I was awake.

“Well, hey there. I won’t even have to wake you, now.” He smiled and I tried to smile back which went horribly wrong. Snickering a little the new doctor grabbed my chart and started reading it, continuing to speak as he did. ”Okay, well I’m Dr. Darcy, the neurological specialist. Sorry for the wait, by the way, there’s a lot of stuff going on today in the ER. But anyways..” He turned to look at me. “You’re Scrollan. And you’re one of the roller coaster patients. Now,” Pulling out a little flashlight he stepped closer “Will you try to focus on the light for me, for a moment, please?”

I did as was told and tried hard to look right into the bright light, with out blinking to much.

“Okay.” He said mindlessly, stretching the word long as he shuffled a little and did something I couldn’t see as I was still starring at the bright light. “Look at my fingers, please.” It took me moment to even locate his fingers, still having some white spots blur my vision. As my eyes kept following his finger to both sides of my head and Dr. Darcy looked down at me intently I suddenly heard the curtain being jerked away and I felt Liam get up from the side of my bed. Just a second later I felt a very familiar hand slip into mine and intertwine our fingers.

“Niall.” I whispered and he squeezed my hand lightly, a huge grin spreading over my face. Dr. Darcy looked over at the new visitor quickly, before moving his finger a little more to the side again.

“Now, it’s great we got you to smile already. But I need you to focus back on the light here for a minute, will you?” He asked and I bit my lip, trying to keep myself from grinning idiotically and focused back on the bright spot right in front of my eyes.

A few moments later the doctor turned off the flashlight and pulled back his hand, to grab the chart and make some notes. I turned my head to gaze at Niall on the other side of my bed. He looked horrible, worn out and exhausted.

“Scrollan.” He whispered, bringing my hand up to his mouth and kissing my knuckles. Fortunately he sat on my right side and therefore had the healthy arm in his hands, because if he would haveso much as moved moved my hurt arm just the tiniest bit I probably would have ripped his head off. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“I thought you were dead.”

Liam snorted from the end of my bed, now standing by my feet and chuckling a little as he looked down at us. “I told you she was perfectly fine.”

“Well, who knows if I can trust your judgment?” Niall snapped back, clenching the hold around my hand even harder.

“Are you going to trust my judgment?” Dr. Darcy asked, looking up from my chart with a smile. We all looked at him anxiously and he seemed to be amused. “Now, let me assure you that your friend here indeed is alive. Her shoulder was popped out but that’s all back into place by now and we’ll have a nurse come in here in a little bit to stabilize it again, so you can actually move without feeling constant pain.” He said nodding at me and I smiled back thankfully. “Well, you’re vitals are fine, but since you complained about neck pain and have been throwing up, I’d like to keep you here over night. You’re responding rather slow to the light and I just want to make sure it’s only a concussion you got, no other head trauma.”

I nodded, happy to hear that it wasn’t all that bad after all, but Niall next to me froze as the doctor spoke.

“Head trauma?” He whispered almost inaudibly and I squeezed his hand, giving him an ‘it’s-okay’-look. He frowned.

“It sounds a lot worse than it is.” Dr. Darcy ensured and set the chart back down. “The nurse will be in shortly to bring you up to your room.” In with that he was gone, leaving me with a completely panicked boyfriend and his not much better doing friend.

Niall had somehow arranged for me to get a room by myself with even my own bathroom. I had tried to tell him them it was absolutely pointless, since I was only spending one night at the hospital, but he wouldn’t listen. So now were all sitting in my room, my shoulder stabilized by a splint. The room was quiet, though now we were sitting all together, making me feel more uncomfortable than before.

It turned out that they had all decided to come to the hospital, but that the nurses in the ER didn’t let them all in and they had had to wait until I was in my own room. I felt horrible for ruining the day for them, especially for the girls who I had only met the other week. They were all lined up by the wall, sitting on chairs with their boyfriend and chatting lightly but keeping it low. Zayn and Harry were sitting together, as Perrie was right next to me on the edge of my mattress. She smile sorrowfully down at me as she glanced at Niall to my other side who was holding up a fruit cup desperately trying to get me to eat.

“Come on, babe.” He said, ripping it open and talking the spoon from the tablet near by, ready to feed me. But I refused, pressing my lips together in a tight line. “Coco, please.” He begged, holding the spoon right in front of my mouth and nudging my lips with the spoon.

“I’m not hungry.” I protested, but Niall used the moment that I opened my mouth to slip the spoon in my mouth and force me to swallow the sweet fruit.

“You need to eat.” Perrie said from the other side of the bed, squeezing my thigh a little. She sat to my left and had learned rather quick that she was not – not under any circumstances – to touch my arm. “The nurse said if you don’t eat they can’t let you go tomorrow.”

I pouted some more, pushing my bottom lip forward. After a moment I opened my mouth and let Niall feed me some more fruit, adoring the smile that spread on his face as he watched me chew.

“Yey, she’s eating.” Louis cheered sarcastically from the other side of the room. “Such a victorious day.” Eleanor swat his arm and Niall threw a piece of fruit at him, but I blushed anyways. Louis was grinning widely as he ate the piece of fruit Niall had thrown at him and I knew he wasn’t actually mad or anything. But nevertheless I felt bad for the boys and their girlfriends that they had to stick around. I knew that all they wanted to do was to get some food and then get going back home, so get some rest and peace after such a long day.

Still pondering over my thoughts I realized that Niall held up some fruit for me but as I gazed down at the spoon, I suddenly felt my stomach clench and I pushed Niall’s arm away.

“Baby, you..” He started before he looked up at me and saw that I wasn’t exactly feeling like food anymore. “Snap.” He reached out for one of the carton bowls that the nurse had stacked up on my bedside table for me and pulled back some of my hair. Luckily I was already sitting in an upright position and my shoulder was fixed in place so as I started gagging the shakes didn’t hurt quiet as bad.

“Get the nurse.” Niall advised Perrie calmly, while soothingly rubbing over my back. I chocked hard and tears started spilling out of my eyes as the fruit cup I had just eaten made his second appearance for the night.

Perrie came back just a moment later, an elderly looking nurse right behind her, taking the bowl from Niall as I was done being sick and handing him some water. I gulped down a few sips before resting my head back against the pillow, silent tears still streaming down my face. As the nurse adjusted the dose of my medication Niall reached up to touch my cheek and wipe away some tears. He pressed a kiss on my forehead and whispered silent words to sooth me. It didn’t exactly work and as the nurse left the room again I started sobbing quietly, hiding my face from the other people in the room.

The situation was too much for me to handle right now and I didn’t even dare to think about all the people that had just watched me being sick in a hospital bed, one even for the third time today already. I wanted to die right on the spot, just to ease the pain. Which of course didn’t work..

To my surprise it was Danielle of all people to help me out in this situation.

“Now, I feel like it’s getting kind of crowded in here.” She said as she got up, pulling Liam up with her. “Maybe we should wait outside. Or go home already?” We exchanged a quick look and I nodded thankfully.

“Okay, than.” Eleanor cut right in, jumping up as well. “Time to go home, boys.” She pulled her boyfriend up with her and Harry and Zayn followed shortly afterwards, looking a little confused as Danielle ushered them all out.

“I’ll be right outside.” Perrie said quietly, getting up herself and leaving quickly, shutting the door until silence filled the room. Niall smiled down at me, caressing my cheek with his fingers.

“Don’t feel embarrassed for being sick, princess.” He cooed, but I didn’t look up at him. “It’s all good, now. You should get some rest. You must be exhausted, it was such a long day.” I nodded and weakly grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him closer towards me. He smiled and swung his legs up onto the bed, laying down next to me and cuddling closer, always making sure not to touch my left arm. He laid on top of the covers but I curled up against his chest, nestling my head in the crook of his neck and enjoying the heart radiating from his body.

“Sleep, princess. Sleep.” He whispered into my ear, his hot breath making my skin tingle. And as his hand kept stroking my healthy arm soothingly I fell asleep again, for what felt like hundredth time that day.

I woke again when I felt Niall’s body shuffle away from me. I grabbed a hold of them hem of his shirt but he just chuckled quietly, taking my hand off his clothes. I opened my eyes and in the dark room I saw that Niall was crouching down next to the bed, looking at me.

“I have to go.” He whispered. “The nurses won’t let me spend the night. But I’ll be back first thing in the morning. And then we’re gonna go home.” He stroked over my hair and smiled sheepishly. “Anything you need me to bring? Maybe buy some clothes? A toothbrush?”

I giggled. “A toothbrush, please.” I replied quietly, still feeling a little sleepy. “No clothes. I’m just gonna wear your sweater.” And as I spoke I remembered how the doctors had cut open my shirt and bra. “Maybe uhm..” I started out, not knowing if Niall maybe felt uncomfortable buying me underwear.

“Yeah?” He asked, his fingers still dancing over my hair.

“A bra? If you don’t mind. You don’t have to, I just..”

“No that’s fine.” He said, blushing brightly. “Perrie stayed back as well. I’ll take her with me.” I chuckled and Niall’s face became even more red. Somehow I found the thought of him picking out some sexy lace bra for me rather amusing.

“Stop giggling.” He scold me playfully. “It’s really weird when the paps catch pictures of me walking around a lingerie store.”

I giggled even more. “I still think it’s funny. I’d find them all on my tumblr.”

“You and your stupid tumblr.” He growled and I beamed up at him as he got up. “Now, sleep again. You need to rest. I’ll see you in the morning.” He bent down and pressed kiss on my forehead, smiling as he pulled away and walked over to the door.

“Good night, princess.” and with that he pulled the door shut behind him and I went back to sleep.


	36. Chapter 36

Niall’s POV:

I stepped out of Coco’s hotel room, still feeling a little uneasy about the whole situation of her being in the hospital. Though the feeling had gotten a lot better since I had seen her and I actually knew that she was fine, or at least that she was going to be. I didn’t dare thinking back to what I had felt driving all the way up to Blackpool this afternoon. Liam’s call had definitely scared me and even though he had said not to worry, I did of course. Who would blame me, right?

Walking down the hallway of the hospital ward I spotted Perrie, sitting in the waiting area. She looked up at me and smiled.

“They didn’t let you spend the night?” She asked with a warm smile and I shook my head. “I looked up a couple of hotels, we shouldn’t have trouble finding a place to stay.”

“Okay, cool.” I said as she got up and joined me walking down the hallway to the elevator. “Listen, uhm, mind if we run by a store real quick?”

“Sure, what do you need?”

“Just some stuff for Coco. Clothes, a toothbrush..” I let out the detail about the bra. “Do you think they have some 24h stores around?”

Perrie focused back on her phone while we stood in the elevator, looking for stores in the area. She had found a couple by the time we reached the car and gave me directions to the closest one as I drove.

Twenty minutes I pulled into the parking lot of a huge ‘Asda’. Even though they mainly sold groceries I knew that they had some clothes and drugstore products as well. And so Perrie and I jumped out of the car, walking in quickly and trying to avoid being seen by people, even though it was rather late at night already.

“Okay, what all do we need?” She asked, gazing around the isles. “I guess toothbrushes might be over there.” As she pointed vaguely to her right I figured that right now was probably a good moment to break the bra-news to her.

“Well, I could go get the toothbrush. You could maybe, uh.. getherabraifyoudontmind.” I swallowed the last few words, blushing a little.

“Do what?” Perrie asked, looking confused. I took a deep breath.

“They cut her bra open. She needs a new one.” I still spoke rather quickly, but slow enough for Perrie to understand. And as she understood what I had just said and blushed over she burst out laughing, holding her hand up with one hand grabbing my shoulder. “What’s so funny?” I mumbled, blushing even more.

“Niall, it’s a bra. For your established girlfriend. It’s not purchasing child pornography. Stop being all that shy.” She scold me, still giggling not helping the heat on my face to disappear at all. “But don’t worry, I’ll get it for you. What size does she wear?”

What size? There are sizes? Obviously, fool. They’re not all one-sized.

“I- I’m not sure..” I stuttered, looking around helplessly. “Maybe like.. a medium?”

“A medium?” Perrie asked incredulously. “Niall, you’re kidding, right?”

“I don’t- I don’t know. Small? Large?” Perrie still only starred at me. “Help me out here, I have no clue about this kind of stuff.”

“Yeah, I can tell.” She huffed, grabbing my arm and pulling me down the isle to the side of the store where they had clothes. “I think I need to teach you some basics about girls’ underwear, dear.” She said still dragging me with her.

“No.” I whined almost childlike, stretching the word as she wouldn’t let go of my arm. “I don’t need to know those things.”

“Yes you do, love. You’re so lucky I’m not Coco.”

I didn’t quite understand what she was talking about, but didn’t dare asking either as she pulled the first hanger off one of the rackets, shoving it in my hands. I didn’t drop it and I didn’t faint, but it still felt weird holding a bra in a public place.

“See?” Perrie prompted, holding one in her hand herself. “It doesn’t bite.” I rolled my eyes at her but she ignored it, fiddling with the tag on the bra she was holding. “This says.. 34B. That’s the size. The numbers measure the size of her ribcage, the letter the size of her, well, boobs.” I tried not to blush at her words, already feeling like a middle schooler in sex ed. “Now, if you ask me this looks too little, but I guess you can judge that a little better.” She continued, holding up the bra right in front of my eyes. As I starred at the two cups I couldn’t help but blush a dark shade of red, making Perrie giggle a little more.

“You have seen her boobs before though, right?” She asked, putting the bra down again and I rolled my eyes, trying to hide the darker growing blush on my cheeks.

“I think we should go with your judgment.” I said quickly, hanging the bra in my hands back onto the rack. “Just pick whatever.” And with that I strolled off, a few racks down the isle, where they had different women’s clothes, though luckily no underwear. I went through some tank tops, picking out a regular white one for Coco to wear underneath my sweater.

“What color does she like?” Perrie asked, holding up a few bras in her one hand while I kept a save distance between me and the bras. “Does she like blue, or re- Oh, hey does she like lace? This one is really cute.” She held up a light pink one, lace all over the place, high enough for me to see and I blushed, turning my head down.

“I like it.” She commented, ignoring my reaction completely. I lifted my head again and saw her hanging back the other bras and just as I thought the torture was over she strolled further down a little, going through a pile of panties. Fortunately she resisted asking for my opinion and just joined me a few minutes later by a rack of ‘save’ clothes where I had been standing all along.

“Here.” She said, shoving the bra and lace underwear in my hands. I took it, turning a little paler as she nudged me to start walking. “How’d you even get a girlfriend?” She muttered under her breath as she dragged me to the other side of the store where we went to get the toothbrush.

“So brave picking out a toothbrush for your girlfriend all by yourself.” She mocked me and I threw one of the still packed toothbrushes after her. It hit her arm before it fell to the ground with a loud sound and we both looked around if anybody else was around. Giggling Perrie bent down to pick the packet up again and tossed it back at me.

“Twat.” She commented and I was this close to throwing the toothbrush at her again, but refused from doing so and just added it to the pile of articles on my arm.

“Let’s go.” I said and we made a quick detour to the grocery section, grabbing something to eat for the both of us as neither of us had had dinner yet. I paid and we left the store again, making me a happy man as the girls’ underwear finally disappeared in a plastic bag and I no longer had to fear people catching me with it.

The hotel we picked was small and nothing special, but we got a room for two with separate bedrooms so we were both happy campers, sitting together in the little living room we had while we ate the dinner we had bought. After we had finished I excused myself to go to bed pretty soon, considering that it was past midnight already and I was pretty tired. Getting up early, moving stuff around all day and then having to drive for three hours to find your girlfriend stuck in hospital wasn’t exactly a relaxing day.

As I laid down I realized that my head was pounding and that sudden tiredness flood my body, making my drift off into sleep right away.

Even though I didn’t set an alarm I woke up early the next morning. And even before I got out of bed I pulled up my phone, texting Perrie right away.

“Are you almost ready? Niall”

Her reply came quick and I was glad to see that she was awake already as well.

“I was actually expecting you to be up even earlier. So yeah, I’m ready. P.”

I shot her another text back, saying that we would meet in twenty minutes, which gave me enough time to get dressed and freshened up before going back to the hospital.

And so almost twenty minutes later when I came stumbling out of my room, fully dressed and ready to go, I found Perrie sitting on the couch, watching TV. She looked ready to go as well, her purse next to her, together with the shopping bag from the night before.

“Ready?” She smiled and got up, switching off the TV and leading the way downstairs where we went to checkout before jumping back into my car and heading off to the hospital.


	37. Chapter 37

Niall’s POV:

When we reached the hospital I made a beeline for Coco’s room, almost rudely ignoring the nurses I passed on my way. Perrie was right on my heel, mumbling quiet greetings but keeping her head down as we walked. She wanted not to get recognized as much as I did, but I knew her well enough to know that she considered my ignorant behavior rude and didn’t want to go there herself.

The first time I really looked up was when we entered the hospital ward Coco’s room was on, shuffling down the hallway even quicker. When I reached the right door I paused for a moment, taking in a deep breath and glancing at Perrie before I knocked quietly and pushed the door open.

Coco was sitting almost upright in her bed, looking down at her phone as she scrolled past something on there reading intently. As we walked in she dropped the phone in her lap, trying to cover it up with the blanket, shuffling to the side a little.

“Scrollan.” I warned her, half amused and half annoyed. “The doctors said you shouldn’t be on your phone.” And neither should she watch TV, or read a book or basically do anything; and I got that it was boring. But it was necessary and I wanted her to get better.

“Good morning to you, too.” She mumbled sarcastically and I dropped a kiss on her forehead before sitting down on the edge of her bed.

“Hey sweety.” Perrie said cheerfully, sitting down in one of the chairs, crossing her legs. “He’s right, put that phone away.”

Coco sighed but untangled the phone from her sheets and handed it to me. I took it and placed it down on the bedside table next to her breakfast. Her untouched breakfast. I looked at the food and then back at her, rolling my eyes at the fact that she hadn’t eaten.

“Okay, what do you want?” I asked waving my hand towards the tablet filled with food, not giving her the chance to decline any more nutrition. She grumbled some incoherent words, glaring at me for a moment before she understood that I wasn’t just going to let go of it.

“That stupid fruit cup.” She decided after a while, shooting the innocent piece of food angry looks as if it had just offended her. Her choice surprised me a little, considering that she didn’t hold the last fruit cup in for too long, but I didn’t question it and just grabbed a spoon and the cup, turning back towards her.

“How was your night, princess?” I asked sweetly, trying to charm her into eating the spoon full of peach and pineapple I held up in front of her mouth. Coco still looked angry but closed her lips around the spoon, chewing on the fruit and nodding slowly.

“It was okay. I woke up around 3 am and they had to give me more morphine. But I’m okay now.. And I’m not feeling sick anymore.”

“That’s good.” I smiled and glanced over at Perrie, who was smiling as well. She gave Coco a thumps up as she turned her head, laughing at the silly gesture. “So do I get to take you home today?”

Coco shrugged. “I wouldn’t know why not. But the doctor wasn’t here yet. The nurses said the doctors usually start their ward round at about 9 am. I guess they’ll tell me if I can leave or not..” I glanced at the clock hanging across from the bed. It still was about twenty minutes left till nine, but I hoped that they would start their round on this end of the ward. I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. Coco needed to get home.

“I called your parents, by the way.” I told her, feeding her more fruit. She paled a little.

“What’d they say?”

“They said to tell you to get well soon. And to get back soon. I told them I was taking good care of you though.”

“Hmm, I bet my dad liked that.” She mumbled sarcastically chewing on her food.

“He was kind of cool actually.” I said, remembering the phone call I had made yesterday afternoon right before the nurses moved Coco up to her own room. It had been weird informing her parents about the accident but as I ensured them that everything was perfectly fine, they stayed surprisingly cool and spared themselves the way up to Blackpool. It somehow filled me with pride, thinking that her parents trusted me enough to bring their hurt daughter back home safely.

“I’ll be taking you back to your house once we get out of here.” I promised, scraping up the last few pieces of fruit in the cup and pushing the last spoonful in her mouth. She swallowed, licked her lips and then looked up at me again.

“I ate.” She stated, sounding almost proud. “Can I have my phone back now?”

I chuckled. “No honey, you know you can’t.” She frowned. “Don’t look at me like I’m the bad cop. I didn’t make the rules!”

“Well, you’re enforcing them.” She grumbled angrily and I sighed, leaning back a little.

“Look,” Perrie said, sensing the tension between Coco and I. “We brought you a couple of things.” She stood up and took the shopping bag with her, setting it down next to Coco’s hip. “We got you a toothbrush, and some clothes.. a bra.” She added, laughing a little, probably remembering the more than awkward shopping experience we had had the day before.

“I know.” Coco replied smirking, pulling up the bag a little. “There’s pictures of that all over tumblr.”

I frowned, watching her as she dug through the items in the bag. “Now you’re never getting your phone bag. Or your laptop.” Coco ignored me, but my thoughts were caught up with pictures of me in that store together with Perrie. I prayed to God non of those pictures showed me holding the underwear we bought, or possibly even looking all red in face while holding them. It really wasn’t that I was too nervous handling those kind of.. items. I just didn’t like the whole world watching me while I did.

“I didn’t even notice any paps, did you?” Perrie asked from across the bed, making my head snap up and my thoughts back into reality.

“Uhm, no.” I admitted, still a little lost in my thoughts.

“Well, they just get more and more creepy.” Perrie commented and Coco looked up at her.

“How did they even know you two were here?”Coco asked and Perrie shrugged her shoulders, glancing at me quickly.

“I don’t know actually. They’re always kinda tricky with that.. It’s a little confusing.”

Coco laughed. “Actually, that’s funny. On tumblr everyone’s just so confused as well. They’re all wondering where Zayn is, not to mention the general confusion about you guys being on the wrong end of England.” Perrie snickered with her, leaning up to her a little but I couldn’t really laugh with them. The paparazzi were there – always – and I had gotten used to it. Of course, after a while everyone did. And normally I didn’t even mind that much. Because I had nothing to hide, really. But now.. It wasn’t that I was planning on hiding Coco as my girlfriend. Though making a relationship public was always hard. And if I could, I would like to postpone trouble with the fans to a later point.

The girls kept chatting, laughing about some paparazzi story Perrie told Coco, but even their carefree laughter couldn’t keep me away from my gloomy thoughts and so I pondered on. Until there was a knock on the door and the entrance of the doctors interrupted my train of thoughts.

“Good morning.” An old lady said, dressed in a white scrub as she walked in, followed by three – what seemed to be – interns. “I see you have visitors already.”

“We hope we might get to take her home today.” Perrie said with a sweet smile and the lady nodded. I watched two of her interns grin at each other and nod slightly. Ignoring their rather unprofessional behavior I turned back to the doctor who had scooped up Coco’s chart and was taking to her now.

“How are you feeling young lady?”

“Good.” Coco replied simply, smiling up at her just as sweetly as Perrie had.

“No more sickness, no more headaches?”

“Well..” Coco started a little unsure, turning her head towards me. I panicked a little, feeling like reaching out for a bowl right away, but she didn’t seem to be sick. She just looked at me.

“Tell her, babe.” I encouraged, taking her hand squeezing it lightly.

“Headaches. A little.” She admitted and the doctor furrowed her brows, making a note on the chart.

“Dr. Darcy diagnosed a concussion, ma’am.” One of the inters mentioned from behind the doctor’s back and her eyes wandered up the chart a little, thinking for a moment. She nodded then, letting her fingers wander down the chart and asking Coco a bunch of more questions. Coco replied sparing with words and I got the impression that she was feeling rather uncomfortable under the interns’ watch.

“Do you have any more questions?” The doctor asked, looking down at Coco, who squinted her eyes a little.

“Actually, yes. Uhm.. What about, well, sex?”

A quick smirk tugged on the doctor’s lips and I didn’t miss that her and all of the three interns – not to subtly – glanced at me. Their eyes made me blush. “Well, I wouldn’t overdo it.” The doctor replied softly, smiling a little. “But anything that doesn’t hurt your shoulder should be alright.”

Coco smiled happily, but I just rolled my eyes at her blushing even more as I caught Perrie’s look. She looked so genuinely amused it almost hurt.

I tried to shrug it off and after a quick checkup, one final round of orders for Coco on how to behave and when to go back for followups the doctor and her three interns in tow left us, saying a nurse would be in soon with Coco’s release papers and a prescription for the pain medication she was to take. After they were gone Coco started going through the shopping bag again.

“I need to change.” She said tonelessly. “And maybe wash my hair. Brush my teethes for sure.”

I took her words as my cue and got up, straitening my pants as I looked down at the two girls. “Uhm, I’ll be.. right outside. Just let me know when you’re done, okay?”

“Sure.” Perrie replied and I looked down at Coco, who didn’t look particularly happy. I mumbled a quick goodbye as I bent back down to her, pressing a quick kiss on her forehead like I had before. The smile tugging on her lips gave me the courage to get back up and leave the room quickly, glancing back at the two girls before I shut the door behind me.

I was waiting in the hallway in front of Coco’s room and almost fortyfive minutes later Perrie and Coco came stumbling out of the room again and in delight I saw that Coco was wearing my sweater. Her left arm was still held in the splint and hidden underneath the sweater, so the left sleeve was hanging down a little awkwardly, swinging back and forth as Coco walked.

I smiled as they approached, though I couldn’t help but notice how worn out Coco looked. She had already looked bad in the hospital bed but I had dismissed it as the effect the hospital grown had on her. Now, fully dressed and her hair still damp from washing, she looked way better, but still horrible. I opened my arms for her and pulled her in an embrace, inhaling the smell of her hair while I made sure not to squeeze her shoulder.

“Are you almost ready?” I asked as she pulled away.

“I need to go sign the papers at the nurses’ station.” She replied, leading the way there. I followed, Perrie right behind me. Coco went in to talk to the nurses, who seemed to take forever to find her papers and Perrie and I waited in the hallway.

“How’d it go?” I asked, nodding in Coco’s direction.

“Okay.” Perrie said slowly. “She’s in pain.. But we got to bond! I know what size of bra she wears now.” I didn’t really know how to respond to that, but Perrie just laughed at my expression. Just as I started making up nasty sentences to snap back at her Coco came walking back out of the nurses’ station, looking at us curiously. I waved it off, taking her hand in mine and as she smiled up at me, confirming that she was good to go we all started moving, walking down the hallway to the elevators.

We left the hospital and when halfway to the car already when Perrie froze in her tracks, hesitating to keep walking.

“What is it?” Coco asked, turning back to look at Perrie.

“Hmm, I left my hat in the room I guess.” Perrie said sheepishly.

“You can go get it.” Coco replied right away. “We have time, right?” I nodded quickly, not able to say no to her pleading eyes though I really wanted to get home as soon as possible. To me Coco still looked like she was in a fragile state.

Perrie had gone back inside the hospital and I barely noticed her leave, too caught up in my own thoughts. Coco let go of my hand and cupped my cheek, tilting my head down towards her.

“Stop worrying.” She said rubbing soothing circles onto the skin of my cheek. I smiled down at her, amazed by how well she read me.

“I can’t help it. It’s in the job description.” She smiled, and I beamed right back at her, letting my hands rest of her hips and pulling her a little closer. “I’m really sorry this happened to you.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“But I feel like it is.”

“Nonsense.” She replied quickly, pulling my chin closer towards her.

“I just feel like-” I tried to pretest, but as her lips pressed against mine softly I gave in to her touch and the words were gone from my mind within a second. Actually all worries and everything was gone, because when we kissed everything was Coco (Like, not the plant. It was all her. All Scrollan.).

We pulled away, our noses still touching and she smiled brightly, looking so beautiful that it hurt despite the fact that she was so obviously worn out. How about you pull it back together when you’re done swooning, kid?, I scold myself, blinking a few times to return to reality. Coco still smiled at me. I pulled her closer again, to embrace her tightly, resting my chin on top of her head. I closed my eyes, but while my lids fluttered shut I saw something from across the parking lot that made me open my eyes right away again.

“Hey! Fuck off!” I yelled across the parking lot and Coco jumped a little in my arms, surprised my the loud noise.

“What is-?” She started but I yanked her around to stand behind my back while I gazed angrily at the paparazzi standing by the doors of the hospital.

“Niall?” Coco asked almost scared as she tried to peek past me, but I held her and spun around to face her.

“Don’t look.” I told her and she made a face, looking annoyed as I held her in place trying not to touch her hurt shoulder while I did so. “It’s a pap. He was snapping pictures. But I don’t want him to see your face.” I replied angrily, restraining myself from walking over to him and shoving my fist down his throat. Hospitals were a no-go. Even for paparazzi. They knew that!

“Oh.” Coco said defeated and I turned back to the doors of the hospital, watching as Perrie approached us quickly.

“Let’s go.” I nudged her, pushing her towards the car, making sure to keep my body between hers and the curious paparazzi at all times. Coco seemed a little irritated but didn’t say anything, letting me guide her towards the car and into the backseat as I unlocked it.

“Is everything okay?” Perrie asked as she caught up with us, walking around the car to the passenger door.

“Paps.” I told her, frowning deeply and she simply nodded, not turning to look for the intruder.


	38. Chapter 38

Scrollan’s POV:

I lazily turned over, shifting my weight a little to find a more comfortable position before I decided to sit up straight instead. Pushing myself off the couch I groaned quietly at the uncomfortable feeling in my left shoulder. Luckily the pain was nowhere near it had been a little over a week ago, but I wasn’t back to normal quite yet. Taking the pain medication let me have an almost normal day..

If there hadn’t been that stupid concussion!

In the past week I had spend more time at home and more specifically in bed than I had this whole last year. Or at least that was what it felt like. My body was worn out and weak, simply because I never really got a chance to move around much. My parents and especially Niall, who had come every day – that he spend in the country – for the past week, were taking really good care of me. Or at least they thought they were, when actually they were putting me through hell and back.

I understood that I needed to rest and let my body heal but they couldn’t expect me to stay home 24/7, doing nothing. Because I literally wasn’t allowed to do anything. Everything that involved a somewhat mental exhaustion, like maybe watching TV, reading a book or even listening to music wasn’t okay with the concussion. But then everything that involved physical involvement was a) not okay with the concussion either, but b) also hurt most of the time. And so I was limited to about three hours of entertainment each day, which was either after my parents got home from work or when Niall came over for a little bit.

But since going mental over being lonely and bored all the time wasn’t an option I had decided to break the rules instead. Lounging on the couch I had brought my laptop with me, only waiting for the right moment to turn on the TV as well. But as I glanced at my phone I knew it wasn’t time yet and so I just crossed my legs, pulling my laptop into my lap and opening up tumblr.

If Niall could see me now he would be pissed. Of course he would be, because he had been pissed at so many things lately. Most of the time I didn’t even know what I had done. He was grumpy when he was here with me, visiting and just talking for some time. He was pissed when he wasn’t with me, and what annoyed him most when he wasn’t were my texts. I knew I wasn’t supposed to text, but Niall’s childish behavior of not texting back at all didn’t exactly make it better.

His mood had gotten worse and worse and had reached a new low just this past few days when him and the boys had been in America for some promotion. I could only guess about the inner battle he was fighting between texting me back and breaking the rules or not texting me back and not knowing how I was doing. We talked little during that time and it made me sad in a way and miss him even more, though the boys had only been gone for a few days.

They were getting back to London today and as much as I looked forward to seeing Niall again; I wasn’t looking forward to the fighting. And to Niall being pissed. But I already knew he was going to be, especially after I had texted him this morning, saying I had seen pictures of all of them at a press conference in NYC. We both knew that I had seen those pictures on tumblr and from the way Niall hadn’t texted me back yet I figured that he was really mad.

He hadn’t wanted me to go back on tumblr after that paparazzi at the hospital had snatched pictures of us. I didn’t really understand what his problem was and tried to explain to him that I had kind of expected something like this to happen anyways. In a way I even liked the pictures ghosting through the internet, making everyone wonder who I was. I had seen girls freak out in text posts, wondering if Niall and I were dating and even declaring their hate, but I didn’t mind. Those pictures let everyone know that Niall wasn’t that one single guy in One Direction and that not everyone could just be a Niall girl. I was the only real Niall girl out there and as mean as it sounded: I wanted people to back up.

I knew that it wasn’t going to just work out like that, but stopped myself from worrying to much. Just now I realized that I had stopped scrolling down, too caught up in my thoughts and as I so I raised my hand again, scrolling past more pictures of the boys in America.

My phone’s screen lit up and caught my attention.

“They’re on in two. xx”

Perrie had texted me and I smiled at the words. She knew that I wasn’t just going to sit around all day doing nothing and so we had texted a little while I was usually just resting in bed. She was worried as well – not as much as the others, but still. And thus she had promised to text me as soon as the interview with the boys was on, which I had been wanting to watch on TV.

The five of them had landed in London this morning and had been off to do interviews right away. The first one, some random TV station, was on right now – oh, or well “in two” – and since Perrie hadn’t wanted me to be on my laptop, phone and TV all day long she had promised to text me instead.

I kept myself from shooting her a reply, tossing the phone to the side and shoving my laptop off my legs before reaching out for the remote and turning on the TV. It was on the right station already and the show master was just now announcing the boys’ arrival. Fans in the background were going crazy, screaming loudly and just about doubling the efforts when the boys finally hopped onto the stage, grinning and waving as they walked to the host.

The show’s host greeted them with a big smile, motioning towards a couch and the boys all sat down, pushing each other around a little until they were comfortable. Niall sat in between Harry and Zayn, grinning into the cameras and – oh dear – looking hot as ever. Okay I really missed him.

The host tried to calm the fans down, motioning with his hands and making the boys laugh which only set off another wave of screams and I chuckled quietly at the fans’ excitement. Of course they were all crazy about this interview. ‘Haylor’ rumors had been all over the news, the radio, not to mention tumblr itself. Harry seemed to remember that as well, because he blushed a little as he gazed over at the audience.

“What an entrance!” The host exclaimed as the fans slowly started quieting down a bit. “I don’t think it’s ever been this loud in here, has it?” He asked and more screams followed. The boys all smiled politely, waving at the fans.

“So, you all just got back from America.” The host said and Louis nodded in confirmation. “How was that? Was it fun? Yeah, did they have..?” He trailed off as Liam already started answering his question.

“Yeah, it was. Yes I mean.. They’re all amazing over there. It was so much fun, again.”

“But we still like coming back to England, of course.” Harry added with a smirk and well, there went screams again.

The interview continued and the host asked questions about America and about the new album and the tour. The boys told him how long they were going to be gone for all their concerts and his eyes grew a little wider.

“Isn’t it hard to be gone all this time? Now, I bet there’s some things you miss. But what is it that you miss most? Is it sleeping in our own bed? Maybe the food? The weather?” He joked and the boys all laughed.

“The weather it is.” Niall agreed with a laugh and Zayn nudged him from the side.

“I’d say my bed.” Harry said from the side. “I miss my bed.”

“Yeah.” Louis agreed. “Or my family.”

“Yes, family.” Liam nodded. “And friends. I miss my friends.”

“Now, talking about friends.” The host picked up what Liam had said, looking at him intently. “I’ve heard some rumors.. about you and Danielle.. being back together?” He asked carefully, with a teasing but friendly smile on his face and Liam blushed a little, but his eyes lit up.

“I.. yeah.” Liam admitted, looking a little lost for words. “She’s back.”

“Back in the ‘One Direction girlfriend gang’?” The host asked and Liam laughed but my attention turned towards Niall. A silent smile crept upon his lips.

“Back in the gang, yes.” Liam nodded, still laughing over the host’s words. Zayn grinned at him.

“Now, talking about the ‘girlfriends gang’..” The host continued, doing what I had dreaded. He turned to Niall. “There’s been some pretty mysterious pictures of you a young girl, Niall. Is she another addition to the gang?”

The camera was close up to Niall’s face and his lips quirked up into a smile, though from the frown on his forehead I could tell that his teethes were clenched together, trying hard not to freak. If only he wasn’t as mad about the pictures.

“Yes.” Niall replied simply after a pause, biting down on his lip. There were some cheers in the audience, but the host wasn’t satisfied with Niall’s plain answer.

“So, does she have a name?”

I saw Niall getting more and more angry, trying to hide his emotions. Fortunately I wasn’t the only one who picked up on that and Zayn wrapped his arm around Niall’s shoulder protectively, taking over for him.

“Her name’s Coco. She’s great, she’s a friend of Perrie’s.” He said and Niall leaned back against the couch, looking exhausted. The show’s host picked up on his defensive move and luckily let go of it. Oh, I’d have fun with that later. Argh.

“Okay, well that’s four girlfriends for now.” The host said, clapping his hands and skillfully avoiding awkwardness in his show. “Can we do one better? Harry, maybe?” He asked with a wink and the audience was cheering loudly now. This was the part everyone had come for.

“Uh, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Harry replied slowly, a shy smile playing around his lips.

“Oh, you know Harry. We actually have some really lovely pictures here.” He said and pictures of Harry and Taylor in NYC showed up on the huge screen behind then couch, making the boys turn around to look at it. The audience cheered, the boys hollered and Harry blushed at the wolf whistles filling the air.

“Oh, that.” He said with a smirk, waving his hand around randomly. “That’s a long story, actually. Uhm..” There was a pause while everyone waited for Harry to elaborate and Harry just didn’t quite know what to say. I snickered at how Niall nudged Harry, trying to get him to speak.

“Would you like me to explain?” Louis asked from the other side of the couch, a playful smirk on his lips, ready to make up some big story the fans would love.

“Actually, no.” Harry replied, laughing awkwardly and the host picked up his laugh and joined in with him.

“Now, Harry you rethink that. And make up a good excuse, or else we’re gonna have Louis tell us the whole story after the break. We’re going to be right back in a minute here, don’t leave or you’ll miss the untold story of ‘Haylor’!” The host announced, leaving the perfect cliff-hanger for the show and then the camera zoomed out the studio, the screen slowing fading into darkness before random commercials started pooping up.

I flicked the TV off, not too keen for the second part of the interview as the first had already been rather uncomfortable. Now Niall was going to be even more angry later when he came to see me. Great.

I sat in silence for a moment, thinking about Niall’s reaction. Trying to shake to thought off I pulled up my phone and went through the contacts, until I found Perrie’s number.

“Coco.” She exclaimed as she picked up. “Hey.”

“Hi Perrie.” There was silence for a moment and I kind of felt like I was supposed to say something but Perrie got there first.

“What did you think?” She asked, obviously referring to the interview she and I had both just watched.

“I don’t know.” I replied honestly. “You?”

“Not sure either.” She admitted and there was silence again.

“He looked upset, didn’t he?” I asked after a while, trying to keep my voice steady but the words hurt.

“Hmm, that’s what I thought as well.”

“Do you think he’s upset with me?” She didn’t say anything. “Perrie, did I make him mad? It’s not like I could help it!” I tried to defend myself, starting to panic and I knew she could here it from the way my voice hitched as I spoke.

“No, no.” She assured me right away, not exactly calming my nerves. “I don’t think he’s particularly mad at you. More the, uhm, situation.”

“That is the same thing. I am the one who put him in this situation. Oh my God, he’s so mad at me.” I was rather close to a mental breakdown now, freaking out over the thought of Niall being mad. “Is he gonna want to break up? He’s gonna want to break up. Oh God-”

“Shut up!” Perrie almost yelled and interrupted my nervous blabbering. “You’re being ridiculous and you know it. He’s most certainly not going to break up with you, so stop worrying about it.”

But her words didn’t convince me all that much. “Well, you never know.”

Despite the talk Perrie and I had had over the phone I was still a nervous wreck all day long, waiting for Niall to come over like it was my conviction. My parents were home from work already and they sat on the living room watching TV while I was in my room, resting like they told me to. I flipped through a magazine, looking at the pictures and trying not to read the articles because it was exhausting. And also I wasn’t supposed to. Just as an article about this winter’s fashion was drawing my attention towards a rather long text the door to my room was pushed open and a blond shock of hair peeked in.

“Hey.” I said, grinning nervously and placing the magazine to the side. Niall glared at it for a moment, before he turned his attention towards me and came walking over to the bed. He sat down on the edge, looking at me intently and I grew more and more nervous under his watch. I had to use all my strength not to physically start shaking as he leaned a little closer, kissing me on the forehead. I was still rather tense though I had to notice that I felt disappointed about the simple kiss. After all I hadn’t seen him in days.

We sat in silence for a moment and I felt like I had to say something. Just anything.

“How did the interviews go today?” I asked, regretting my words immediately when I saw Niall’s eyes grow even darker. He probably figured that I had watched the interview already anyways, but didn’t say anything about it.

“It was stupid. Stupid interviewers, stupid questions. Of course they had to ask about those pictures. Management had the American shows keep quiet about it, but somehow they wanted it in the interview now. Probably to kind of cover up the ‘Haylor’ mess.. But like that was of any use. Now everybody knows!” He sounded sincerely upset.

“Well, don’t you want people to know?”

He rolled his eyes. “That is not it, Coco.”

“Then why are you all grumpy? Aren’t we and love? And shouldn’t you be happy about that?”

“I am.”

“Well you sure don’t look like you are.” I said in an almost accusative tone. “And neither did you during that TV interview.”

Niall rolled his eyes at me again. “Nobody even saw that.”

“Yes of course people did!” I protested, angry now. “They’re not stupid. It’s gonna be on Twitter and on Tumblr. I can already see them calling me a ‘fake girlfriend’ and a ‘coverup’ and what not!” I rambled, ready to go on, but Niall interrupted me, raising his voice.

“Will you stop with that stupid Tumblr? I told you nothing good come from that! Of course people are going to put lies on there, because they always do! Can you just listen to me? Only once, okay?” He had his hand raised above his head, getting up. “Stay away from that stupid website and don’t worry about what people say about our relationship on the Internet!”

“Well, it’s not my fault!” I exclaimed, crossing my arms defensively and glaring at Niall. “You were gone and I was bored. There’s not much you can do with your arm wrapped in a split.”

He sighed loudly, looking down at me a with angry eyes. “Do I need to remind you that you also have a concussion and shouldn’t be on your computer at all?”

“I’m not a child!” I replied, almost yelling now and looking up at him now with equal anger in my own eyes. “You can’t tell me what to do and what not to! You don’ t even know how I’m doing and if my head can take an hour of TV a day or if my shoulder is not hurting at all anymore.. Which by the way you would know if you ever bothered to respond to my texts! But Mr.I’m-Too-Busy-With-My-Famous-Band is apparently not interested in that.”

His eyes grew darker as he stepped close, one knee resting on the mattress next to me. He reached up for my hurt shoulder, which was still held to my body by the splint, and pushed it lightly right on the joint. And even though it really did feel a lot better the pain made me wince and Niall’s lips were pressed in a thin line.

“See?” He asked bitterly as he let go of my arm. “You’re not better.” I glared back at him, not only physically but almost emotionally hurt with what he had done. We both knew I wasn’t all healthy again quiet yet but there was no need for him to display that he had been right. I shut my eyes, scooting away from him and down the bed so I was lying down, wrapping the blanket around me.

Even though I was facing away from him and my eyes were still shut tightly I knew that he was starting to feel sorry. Because that was exactly what was happening to me.

“Hey.” He said soothingly, shifting on the mattress. “I’m sorry.” His hand stroked over my arm, touching it very lightly and making sure not to hurt it again. I winced anyways and he pulled his fingers back as I leaned even further away from him.

“Go away.” I mumbled, my face pressed against one of the pillows.

“Princess.” He said softly, almost – almost – getting me to turn around to face him. “I came like five minutes ago. Are you sure you don’t wanna.. spend some more time together?” I groaned into the pillow, fighting the urge to either turn around and pull him close or simply burst into tears, kicking him out quite literally.

“Not when you’re like this.” I mumbled back after a while when I had regained control over myself. Niall sat in silence for a little longer and I figured he pondered about whether it was smarter for him to stay or to leave me alone. It didn’t take him long to make a decision though and he let me know when he carefully pushed his body off the mattress. I felt him dip down and press his soft lips on my hairline, almost reaching my temple as my cheek was hidden too deep down in the pillows.

“I still love you.” Niall whispered and I pressed my eyes even tighter together, not allowing the tears to spill over. “I’ll call you.” He promised before getting up one final time and walking out. I heard the door shut and when I did I couldn’t keep the tears in any longer.


	39. Chapter 39

Niall’s POV:

I was at the house, lounging on one of the couches. Zayn was sitting across from me, scrolling through something on his phone and pressing his lips in a tight line as he looked down at the screen intently. It was another one of those girlfriend-days and Liam and Louis were gone on dates with Danielle and Eleanor, Harry was busy doing mysterious stuff, maybe skyping Taylor or maybe not – who really knew what was going on between them anyways?

Zayn and I were stuck at home and bored together, because our girlfriends had better plans than hanging out with us. I was bitter though I knew that they were exactly doing anything better. Coco had her checkup today and had to go to the hospital to have a doctor check up on her shoulder and also do a head CT. She had asked Perrie to go with her, which had me rather panicked. Both Zayn and Perrie ensured me that it was probably about Coco wanting to take a girl rather than a boy with her, but deep down I was convinced that it had nothing to do with that. It was about the fight Coco and I had had two days ago. We hadn’t really spoken since, but I knew she was still pissed. And it made me mad. She couldn’t just be mad at me. Not just like that.

“She’s behaving like such a child!” I exclaimed angrily, making Zayn look up from his phone. It took him a moment to figure out what I was talking about, but when he did he just nodded. I understood that he had no interest in getting involved in Coco’s and I’s relationship, but right now I needed to talk. I needed to ditch the dirt and I needed to freak out.

“She needs to heal! She needs to get better, how does she not see that? Being on that stupid website is not good for her anyways.” I rambled on and Zayn just looked back at me, lowering his back onto his phone before he spoke.

“I can understand her. She must be so bored.”

I gazed back at him in surprise. Usually he would side with me in this, not wanting to fight. But I wasn’t going to blame him.

“She’s not taking care of herself!” I argued, pretty much ignoring what Zayn had said before. He looked up at me, his expression growing soft.

“Don’t you think you’re maybe.. exaggerating it a little bit? I mean she’s sick, yes but-”

“Now you’re giving me crap as well!” I interrupted him angrily. “Sorry, really, for wanting to take care of my girlfriend.” I exclaimed sarcastically. “How stupid of me. You’re all right we should just neglect her and she can go rot in he-”

“Niall!” Zayn threw a pillow at me hard, effectively shutting me up. “Now, will you stop being absolutely ridiculous? Nobody wants to neglect her or harm her in any way. But you indeed are very protective of her and I’m just saying that maybe you’re being harder on her than you’d need to..” He continued carefully, obviously not trying to upset me any further.

“Well, yeah.” I admitted, tilting my head to the side. “But I need to! I need to take good care of her. I’m the reason she has to go all this trouble so I want to be there for her. I can’t protect her from getting hurt or from the paparazzi, but I can be there for her..” Zayn was still silent. “She’s not like Perrie, you know? She’s not used to paps and a public life. And I never wanted to drag her into this.”

We sat in silence for a moment and Zayn watched, sighing loudly before he spoke.

“Well, she loves you. With or without the paps, with or without a concussion. So stop worrying about it. Because the only time you two ever argue is when you’re – may I say: overly – protective.”

I thought about his words for a moment, though it felt weird thinking that Coco simply accepted the package deal with all the disadvantages that came with it. But if he was right about that, than it also was me – and me only – who caused all the problems we had been arguing about. Well, crap.

“Am I being stupid?”

“Yes.” Zayn agreed with a weak smile.

“Am I being unreasonable?”

“Yes.”

“Should I go apologize?”

“Yes!”

I had asked Zayn to ask Perrie to come over after her and Coco were done at the hospital and to just bring her along. He thought it was ridiculous that I didn’t ask her myself but did what I asked him for anyways. When Perrie texted back she was a little confused herself why I didn’t ask Coco to come over, but Zayn texted her telling her not worry about me and to just come over. And Perrie did as Zayn told her.

Now, Perrie and Zayn were gone, up in Zayn’s room doing God-knows-what and Coco and I were alone downstairs. I sat on the kitchen counter and watched her move through the kitchen, cooking food for the both of us. And as she poured some more oil in a pan, tilting it to the side so it could spread evenly I thought about what to say. I wanted to apologize for sure, I just didn’t know where to start. In my eyes it wasn’t really a bad thing for me to want to take care of her, but apparently that view was subjective and sadly enough Coco didn’t agree.

One thing I really felt sorry about though and I sincerely wanted to apologize for was the fighting. I knew I overdid it a little and thought of a way to apologize for freaking out, but not for my actual opinion.

“I, uh-” I started and she looked up, surprised to hear me speak. We had barely spoken a word since she arrived, both too scared of another fight to say anything. “I’m sorry, for the fighting. I shouldn’t have.. freaked out like I did.”

Coco turned her head back down towards the pan in her hand and hummed in response. I would have liked for her to actually say something, but it didn’t look like she was quite there yet. So I continued.

“I know I shouldn’t be as mad, but.. I just don’t understand. I can’t understand how you can be this reckless about your health.”

She sighed, looking up again. “I’m not reckless. See, the doctors just said my head was fine again. Another two weeks with the splint and then I’m back to normal.” I swallowed, not wanting to argue with her and indeed happy to hear those news. I had asked Perrie how the visit at the hospital had gone as soon as the two girls arrived at the house, but she had refused to tell me, saying that it wasn’t her place to talk about Coco’s health. I forced more worries to the back of my head, smiling weakly at Coco who smiled back before turning back to the food she was now tossing into the pan. Stirring through it she kept talking, not looking up at me.

“You need to cheer up a little. People caught up on you being all sad and grumpy. I told you people would notice and now people on Tumblr think I’m a beard.” I bit my lip, not knowing how to respond to that, but Coco wasn’t even finished yet. “I mean let’s be honest you didn’t look happy on the pictures the paparazzi snapped at the hospital and even less so during any interview where they mentioned me so far.”

I sat motionlessly, taking some time to let her words sink in. It seemed to take forever for my brain to process what she had said and even though I couldn’t really wrap my head around it quite yet I was already beginning to panic. This was exactly how it had all started for Liam and Danielle. She was being called nasty stuff online and with the time it got more and more and at some point simply too much too take. I couldn’t let this happen to Coco.

“I want you to stay away from the website.” I said sternly looking at her and she shook her head.

“No.” She said, sounding almost amused.

“Scrollan.” I pleaded lowly, almost glaring at her now.

“No.” She insisted, not even looking up at me anymore.

“This is the last time I’m gonna ask you nicely. Stay away from that stupid website. Please.” I put emphasis on the last word, though my voice sounded too bitter to actually be sincere. Coco rolled her eyes at me.

“Stop being all bossy. You can’t decided for me which websites I go to and which I don’t, so stop acting like you can.” She sounded annoyed.

Her words made me angry and I had to keep myself from jumping up and showing her just how well I could keep her from going on that ridiculous Tumblr page ever again. But scaring the shit out of her didn’t seem like the smartest move to me right now and so I angrily grabbed a hold of the counter underneath me, my knuckles turning white under the pressure.

“I’m just trying to protect you, okay?” I asked lowly, my teethes clenched and my voice shaking.

“Well, stop.” Coco snapped back, still not looking at him.

“But I don’t want you to leave!” I exclaimed, pushing myself off the counter now but staying on my side of the kitchen. Coco swirled around, looking at me with confusion in her eyes.

“I’m not going anywhere.” She said, not quite as loud, still not too sure of the situation.

“That’s what you’re saying now..” I said sadly, not wanting to think about what the fans’ hate could do to her. But Coco still didn’t seem to understand my concern, cocking her head to the side.

“What do you mean?”

“I just..” I stepped forwards, my arms raised above my head and Coco back away a little. I froze in my tracks, terrified to see that she actually backed away. But I didn’t want to scare her anymore and stood still in the middle of the room. “Nobody likes getting hate. I’m trying to protect you.”

“It’s okay, really. I’m fine.” She replied, leaning back against the counter behind her back and looking up at me with an expression I couldn’t read.

“Nobody is just fine with it.” I argued, trying to get get to stop lying to me. I knew she was playing it down and trying to keep it low, but I wasn’t going to let that happen.

“I am.” Coco shot back loudly, sounding upset herself now.

“Well, you’re fine with a lot then apparently!” I snapped, glaring at her and I saw her hesitate for a moment. Her body was pushed back against the counter even tighter and her eyes darted down at the floor, avoiding my look. “But you can’t be.” I sighed and turned away from her a little before I decided otherwise and stepped closer towards her, only a couple of feet away from her now. “You can’t just be fine with everything.” I spat and flinched at the harshness of my words. “I did this to you! Because of me you were stuck in the hospital. Because of me you had a concussion. And because of me your arm is still wrapped in that stupid splint. It’s my fault that there were pictures taken. It’s my fault they’re talking in interviews about you and online. I am your boyfriend and it’s my task to protect you from that kind if harm. I failed you. I failed you so very bad. And I don’t need you to forgive me or forget about it. All I’m asking of you – I’m begging of you – is that please, pretty please, do not ever say you’re fine with it.”

I had stepped closer as I spoke and she had let me. We were standing close, just as close as we could without touching. Coco blinked twice and I saw tears glistening in her eyes, feeling the sudden urge to wipe them away. But her words kept me from doing so.

“But I am. I really am fine.”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at her and bend down a little so were face to face. “You’re not.” I said quietly, trying to make my voice sound as soft as possible.

“Are you saying I’m lying to you?” She asked defensively all the sudden, crossing her arms in front of her chest and causing me to back up a little. I looked down at her startled for a moment, not knowing how to respond. I didn’t think that she was intentionally telling me lies, but then again I was so sure that she wasn’t just fine with all that had happened.

Coco waited a while for me to answer, but when I didn’t answer her eyes grew darker and she pushed past me to the other side of the kitchen. I watched as she picked up her phone, still glaring at me.

“Do you even know what you just said?” She asked angrily, not waiting for me to answer her question. “I want you think about that. I want you to think about if you mean what you said.” She walked out of the kitchen and it took me a moment to realized what had happened and as soon as I did I jumped up, following her through the living room to the hallway.

“Where are you going?”

“Home.”

“Scrollan.” I groaned, positioning myself in front of the door so she couldn’t leave. She looked up at me while slipping on her shoes. The look in hers eyes almost broke my heart. “See?” I said motioning towards her. “You’re not fine.”

Coco jumped up and there something new in her eyes, something that let me know that maybe I shouldn’t have said what I had just said.

“Yes I am!” She yelled and I flinched a little at the loud volume. “For God’s sake I’m fine! I don’t care about having to go to the hospital. I don’t care about my stupid concussion or my stupid shoulder, because it doesn’t matter! It really doesn’t matter! And neither do-”

“Coco, please.” I tried, but she wouldn’t let me interrupt her.

“-those ridiculous comments online! Of course it sucks that apparently everyone thinks you don’t love me and that I get paid to even spend time with you. But you know what worries me the most?”

“Please, stop screaming. Baby.” I spoke quietly, but she ignored me.

“The only fucking thing I’m worried about is that you care so much about it! Why do you care more about what other people think is important or want you to do? It should be me in first place. I can ignore all the hate in the world as long as I’m your girlfriend and for once you make me feel like you actually love me!”

The silence that followed her screams was deafening and it almost physically hurt. But not as much as her words had.

“You think I don’t love you?” I asked, completely thrown off. Out of all the things I had expected her to be mad about this was definitely that last. She blinked up at me, fighting tears again.

“You don’t act like you do.” She admitted sadly and the way her voice broke at the end of the sentence made me want to cry.

“But I do. I love you more than anything else in my life. And that’s why I’m trying to protect you. If anything every happened to you, I just..-” My voice trailed off and I didn’t even dare thinking about the possibility of Coco getting hurt any more. “Protecting you is all I can do to show you how much you really mean to me. Please don’t push me away.” I looked at her with pleading eyes and she glanced back, looking torn.

“Niall..” She started, biting her bottom lip. “If this.. overprotective behavior is the only way you know to express your feelings, I-.. maybe this.. I don’t think this is going to work.”

My mouth fell open and my mind started rambling right away. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. This wasn’t what it sounded like. It couldn’t be. This couldn’t be the beginning of the end. I wasn’t going to let it be. I didn’t want her to leave, because I knew if I let her leave now she was never coming back. She would leave me and end up with some other guy and I would end up alone. Because it was her that I wanted. Please don’t go., I wanted to say. I wanted to get down on my knees and beg for her to stay. But I didn’t.

Coco looked past me at the door, trying to give me a sign that she wanted to leave, without actually having to face me or say anything. My mind was running wild, still looking for something to say as Coco reached out around me to grab the door handle and pull the door open against my body, but I wouldn’t let her. I felt her look up at me, but my vision had gone blank making me feel a little dizzy as I ran out of options. No, no, no, no. No! There had to be something. Just anything!

Coco still held the door handle and pulled on it hard as one last option trembled through my mind and the words were out of my mouth before I got a second chance to think about it.

“Marry me.”

Scrollan’s POV:

Instinctively I let go of the door handle, stepping back a little to get a better look at Niall who looked just as surprised as I felt. I looked him in the eyes and even though I saw the bright blue color flicker a little, he didn’t seem to freak out just yet. We gazed at each other for a long moment and as Niall’s eyes grew wider I came to think he actually expected an answer.

“No.” I blurted out, not thinking about how harsh my words would sound. But there was nothing else I could have said, because I in fact wasn’t planning on getting married – or for that matter engaged – anytime soon.

Niall looked a little surprised, the sparkle gone from his eyes and his shoulder hanging down now. Suddenly I felt kind of bad for letting him off just like that.

“I- I love you.” I said quickly. “You know that. But you don’t.. you don’t mean that. You don’t really want me to marry you.”

“Yes, I do.” Niall insisted right away.

“No, you don’t.” I argued. “You’ve only even known me for a couple of months now. You’re just saying that because.. well, you’ve had an adrenaline rush. You’re confused.”

“No, I’m not.” Niall said again, his eyes growing softer as we spoke. “I know exactly what I’m talking about.” I furrowed my brows at his words, but didn’t say anything against it as I didn’t want to argue any more. It had been a long day and all I wanted was to get away from the possibly next argument now, so I wasn’t going to give him the chance for more fights.

“Fine. Ask me again another time then.”

“Okay.” He agreed, probably realizing that rushing things wasn’t all that smart.

“Okay.”

I turned to leave, grabbing the handle again as Niall stepped to the side. He hesitated for a moment, looking up between the handle and me.

“You don’t have to go, you know.”

“I know.” I smiled, pulling the door open anyways.

“I would like for you to stay.” Niall continued, as I stepped outside and I turned around to smile at him.

“I need some time, okay?” He nodded, but the expression on his face told me that he clearly wasn’t okay. “I’m not leaving.” I said, trying to comfort him.

“Yes you are.” He said, motioning weakly towards me.

“I’m not leaving for good.” I added, rolling my eyes at him. He nodded, not thinking this was funny in any way and I kept myself from smiling any more. I stood face to face with him for a moment, waiting if he was going to kiss me goodbye but he didn’t want to make a move, or maybe he didn’t dare to. Anyways I turned around a moment later, waving at Niall as I walked away from the property to find my car parked where Perrie and I had left it upon arriving.


	40. Chapter 40

Scrollan’s POV:

„.. and then he asked me to marry him.“ I finished he story, looking anxiously into the webcam.

“Just like that?” Lina asked, her voice crackling a little due to the bad internet connection.

“Just like that.” I agreed, smiling a little unsure.

“Oh my God!” Lina exclaimed happily, jumping up and down in her seat, grinning so wide it looked almost painful. “He is so cute. He is such a charmer! Niall is the perfect guy for you. I know it. I knew it! I knew it all along. He always had this-”

“Lina?” I tried interrupting, but she kept rambling on joyfully.

“-look in his eyes and I always just knew that he was head over heels for you. Oh wow, this is so exciting. You’re getting married and I can fly- Oh I’m totally gonna fly over as soon as possible! We can go dress shopping-”

“Lina!”

“-and we can take Perrie and go to all those fancy London boutiques and make everything perfect. Are you excited? I’m excited. Oh wow! Just think about-”

“Lina, I said no!” I almost shouted, trying to get her to stop. Her words weren’t exactly uplifting considering my current position.

“-all the stuff that- WHAT?” Her eyes grew wide in surprise. “Wait- what? You’re kidding, right?”

“No.”

“You said no?” She looked absolutely shocked.

“Yes.”

We sat in silence for a moment, both glancing at our computer screens and watching the other. She had her head cocked to the side, probably trying to figure out if I was really being serious. I looked down at my hands, waiting for her reaction.

“Well.. okay. But why?” She said quietly after some time and I let out a breath I didn’t know I had been holding.

“Uhm.” I started a little awkwardly, glancing up at her and right back down on my hands. “Didn’t.. feel right, I guess. It’s not that I don’t love him, because I do, really. But.. Look we’ve only known each other for a couple of months now and I just don’t think that’s.. it.” I looked up and saw Lina pulling her eyebrows up. “And also I’m pretty sure he didn’t mean it.”

“He didn’t mean it?” Lina asked back in surprise, shifting to the side a little and turning the webcam a little after.

“Well.. with the fighting and everything. Pretty sure he was just.. flushed with adrenaline or something.”

“Did he say anything about it ever since?” Lina wanted to know, making me feel a little uncomfortable.

“We haven’t really spoken since.” I admitted sheepishly.

“And that fight was..?”

“Four days ago.” I finished for her. She cocked an eyebrow at me.

“How mature of you not to talk to him about it.” Her voice was mocking, almost lecturing and it was strangely amusing.

“It’s not like we haven’t been speaking at all. We’re texted. Not just about it.” Lina pursed her lips. “But he’s coming over tonight!” Her frown turned into a little smile. I smiled back and let my eyes dart across the room to the clock hanging on my wall. “Speaking of which, I need to go! Still gotta shower before he comes and well..” I motioned towards my left shoulder, still caught in the splint. “Takes a little longer these days.”

Lina chuckled and nodded, saying goodbye and sending me a bunch of cybe-hugs and -kisses before hanging up and I made a beeline to my bathroom, slowly pulling the clothes off my body. My shoulder had gotten even better and I was pretty much back to normal.. as long as the splint was on. Actually it wasn’t as bad without the splint either, it just like hell to put it on or off. Usually I had my mom help me with it, or sometime Niall – which that was not so much lately – but I thought I could do it alone this time.

Biting down onto my bottom lip I ignored the pain that shot through my left arm as I pulled my bra off, the splint already gone. With the right hand I pressed my left arm flush to my body, so it moved as little as possible while walking. I made it through the bathroom and into the shower without hurting myself anymore and turned on the water quickly. The heat was soothing and calming in a way and I stood, letting the water run down my body for a while.

At some point in time I figured I should probably get down to the actual showering part as Niall was to arrive anytime now and I didn’t mean to make him wait extra long. Turning to the side I opened my eyes, wiping away some water and grabbing the body wash. I flipped the cap open but froze in my tracks when a cold breeze crept upon my backside and legs, making me shiver. I heard the shower curtain being pushed to the side and hands on my hips only a moment later.

“Hi.” Niall hushed, pressing a kiss onto my shoulder lightly, curing me from my momentary heart attack. Get the fuck out of my shower!, I wanted to yell, still scared to death. Somebody climbing into the shower with you surely wasn’t as sexy and sensual as movie displayed it to be.

My heart still racing like crazy, Niall kept pressing kisses onto the skin of my shoulder and neck, his body pressing against mine. And the warmth and smoothness of his skin calmed my temper, keeping me from kicking him out.

“You scared me.” I admitted softly, sounding nowhere near as pissed as I was. My stomach turned as he pressed himself a little closer.

“I’m sorry.” He muttered, his lips never leaving my skin completely. “You’re mom let me in, but you were in the shower. Thought I’d come surprise you..” I felt him smirk against my skin as his voice trailed off.

“You did.”

He chuckled, letting his hands glide forward and wrap around my hip, nuzzling his head in my neck and starting to suck on the skin as I leaned into him. And as I slit into his arms, feeling so save in his hold I suddenly realized that this whole situation wasn’t as.. purely cuddly as it seemed.

“Niall?” I breathed out, a little stunned with my realization. He only hummed in response, his teethes and lips still working the skin on my neck. “We’re both naked.”

Niall freed his lips from my neck, pulling back a little to rest his head on my shoulder – luckily the good one – and his cheek was pressed against mine, sending vibrations through mine as he chuckled. “Captain Obvious strikes again!” He exclaimed quietly, laughing at his own joke.

We stood like this for a moment before Niall pulled back all together, turning me around while carefully watching my hurt shoulder. His left hand still resting on my hip the other trailed up my body, carefully pushing back my hair before he tilted my chin up with his finger, pressing his lips against mine. I felt a little uneasy, giving into his touch soon though, when he started massaging my scalp. He knew I was such a sucker for that.

As his kisses got more intense and our bodies pressed together even tighter I started feeling something stir inside of me. Something pleasant..

“What are you doing?” I asked as I broke away from the kiss. Niall looked a little confused, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up quite yet.

“You said it yourself, we’re both naked..” His words lingered for a moment as he looked down at me. “I mean, if I have to spell it out for you, maybe it’s not such a good ide-” I pressed my lips against his hard, effectively shutting him up.

“Are we trying again?” I asked excitedly, my lips never leaving his and the words sounded awkwardly slurry. Somehow I couldn’t really believe it quite yet.

“Unless you don’t want to.” Niall replied with a smirk and I could only roll my eyes at him before we reconnected out lips properly, kissing heatedly.

I couldn’t hide the idiotically happy smile plastered across my lips as Niall and I climbed out of the shower again, both feeling a little shaky on our legs. To my relief I saw that he was smiling just as wide, looking just as dazzled and shaking just as much as he reached for a towel. He wrapped it around his hips quickly before grabbing another one and starting to dry me off.

The smoothness with which he moved across my body, making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside and the tenderness with which he moved the towel over my hurt shoulder made me want to burst with the love I felt for him. Right in that moment I had no doubt that I would want to spend the rest of my life with that little puppy looking Irish boy.. Even though I still didn’t feel like getting married anytime soon.

I didn’t even realize that Niall held up some panties for me to climb into and I smiled as he pulled the fabric up my legs and over my butt, letting his fingers linger a little longer than he needed to. Not that I would mind.

“Thanks.” I whispered as he hooked up the bra behind my back, after putting on some boxers himself. “That was a nice surprise.”

“I’m glad you liked it.” He smiled down at me, pressing a quick kiss on the tip of my nose. “Though it wasn’t actually the surprise.”

His words confused me, but I didn’t say anything waiting for him to elaborate further. But he didn’t and instead just grabbed my right hand, pulling me out of the bathroom with him. I followed him, glancing at the splint that still lay on the ground in the bathroom. Though all possible pain was gone from my shoulder when I stepped out of the bathroom and into my bedroom where the air wasn’t warm and humid from the incredibly long shower Niall and I had taken. The coldness hit me and I just then realized that I was still in only my underwear, glancing at Niall who still held my hand, standing in the middle of the room.

“So, what’s that surprise now?” I prompted, trying to distract myself from the cold as Niall apparently didn’t plan and letting me put clothes on sometime soon. He pressed his lips together mysteriously as he beamed at me, letting go of my hand and going to find something in his jean pocket. I was distracted trying to figure out what it was in his hand as I let him push me backwards towards the bed, where he pushed me down onto the edge, standing in between my legs.

Niall finally opened his hand, letting me see the piece of black fabric in his hand, looking like a scarf or maybe.. a blindfold?

He held it up to me, right in front of my eyes so I could see and I gazed at the blindfold feeling strangely intrigued by the idea of using it. My brain was still occupied with all the fun we could have with that little piece of fabric, turning off my brain to mouth filter.

“We just went, are you sure you wanna go again? I mean it sure was amazing, but I don’t know..” I offered, blushing as soon as I realized what I had said.

Niall only snickered at my words, pressing his index finger onto my lips to keep me from talking. I followed his orders and let him push me back onto the mattress and then down so I was laying on my back. He climbed onto me carefully, straddling my hips. The soft fabric of his boxers brushed my thighs and I took in a sharp breath.

He chuckled again, bending down towards me and letting his lips linger over my ear, blowing hot air down onto it. “Just listen, yeah?” He asked, pushing himself up again and putting the blindfold on himself, leaving me completely confused.

Niall took his hands from the bed and placed them on my stomach, shuffling back a little so he was sitting down on my thighs. The confusion that had occupied my brain was starting to disappear as he bend down and let his lips brush over the skin right above the hem of my panties, kissing down a few times.

“This is your appendectomy scar.” He caressed the skin with my lips for a moment, sending shivers down my spine. “I know how you hate it. But I love it. It’s you’re little imperfection, your one little imperfection, that actually makes you one of us humans.” I would have laughed at how ridiculous and cheesy he sounded but the sincerity in his voice kept me from making even the slightest sound, too scared to ruin the moment.

His lips over to the right a little, biting down onto the lace of my underwear and tugging it up with his teethes. “Obviously I love those.” He hummed lowly. “Though I actually like them better when they’re off.”

I felt him smirk against the skin above the panties as he let go of the fabrics, dipping back down and placing kisses along my stomach, making it flutter like crazy.

“This,” He had stopped at my right hip bone, kissing the skin and slowly draping his fingers across the skin. “Is where I left bruises the first time we had sex. Because it felt so amazing but I tried so hard to suppress it.” I pressed my lips together, having to swallow down a lot of comments. “Which I know you loved and you also liked the bruises, because you said they reminded you.” I smiled, remembering how many times Niall had apologized, while I thought they were about ten times cooler than regular lovebites.

While I was still thinking back to those memories, Niall dragged my nose up my stomach leaving little kisses every inch, caressing my sides with his fingers. Reaching my belly button he dipped his nose in, breathing out cold air, causing me to hiss from above. He smiled against me skin, chuckling quietly.

“You hate it so much.” He stated, pulling back a little to kiss the skin right above my belly button as if it was an excuse for the previous gesture. “But I love it.” His nose slit dangerously close again, but pulling back in time, dragging his teethes up my torso before I could really get angry with him for not skipping the belly button part.

I felt his lips leave my body for a moment, before he shifted his weight to the side a little, taking my right hand in his and kissing every single one of my finger tips. He let his tongue wander up my arm, leaving a wet trail and goosebumps everywhere he touched me.

“Your arms.” He breathed, biting down softly onto the skin on the inside of my upper arm. How did he know these spots? Jesus! I eased into his touch and felt him smile against my skin. “You hold me like no other. You comfort me, even when you don’t really know what it’s about. You give me a feeling of safety I’ve never even known I could feel before I met you. And it grows with every day.”

My stomach fluttered pleasantly and I started feeling a little dizzy, only being pulled back into reality when Niall crawled up my body a little bit, letting his lips dig down onto my collarbones now.

“Right here,” He bit down onto a spot on the very outer corner of the bone, sucking on the skin sweetly. “Was the first lovebite I ever gave to you.” I couldn’t look down at what he was doing but from the way my lips pressed down onto the skin and his teethes dug in lightly I had no doubts that he marked in the exact same spot again. And just as I started thinking about how incredibly cute he was for doing all that for me his lips wandered up and to the side a little, finding a very specific spot and my neck and biting down.

“Oh-” I gasped out in a low moan, biting down onto my lip and cursing myself inwardly for not managing to keep quiet.

“This,” Niall said, smirk evident in his voice. “Is your sweet spot. But’ll come back to that later.” He sounded so genuinely amused it was almost annoying, seeing just how well he knew me and how he had me whipped. But before I could worry about it any more Niall shifted up my body a little further and I found his head hovering over mine, our lips only inches away. It felt weird looking up at him and not seeing the usual bright blue, which was now covered by black fabric, sparkling back at me.

“Your mouth.” He breathed almost inaudibly. The hot air hit my lips and I was pretty convinced that this gesture should not be as hot as it felt. As my body thought it felt. “So cheeky. So kissable.” He dipped down placing a very soft and sweet peck at the corner of my mouth and I didn’t know if it was fully intentional or if maybe he missed his goal a little bit. The thought made me smile.

“Who would have thought that mouth could be put to different use, too?” He asked, smirking widely and I blushed at his words. I thought back to the many times I had gone down on him and from the way Niall’s lips twisted up in a wicked smile, he did too.

“I love how you blush.” His lips trailed up my face a little, kissing my cheeks and pressing against them lightly. “I feel like I don’t get to see this often enough. But it always is a lot of fun provoking it..”

I thought about protesting but just as before Niall must have sensed it or something, because he moved on without hesitation, leaving me stunned with his soft and gentle touches. He kissed my eyelids as I closed my eyes instinctively.

“You were the first one to see the real me. I never even gave you permission but from the first day we met I had the feeling that there was something about you.. and now I know that already back then you could stare right into my soul. You saw me for who I was and you took me with you to see the world the way you do. Every day there’s something new you show me. Something I’ve never even paid attention to, but you make it the focus of my day.”

Niall’s words caused my emotions to spill over and if it wasn’t for how comfortable I felt in that moment with him all over me I would have felt embarrassed when I felt him staring to kiss away tears that spilled from my still closed eyes.

“Don’t cry.” He whispered, nudging my cheek with his nose and I whimpered a little, swallowing hard and suppressing any more tears. My eyes were still closed, but I knew he was smiling when he moved his head to the right, nudging me temple and making me tilt my own head to the side. Niall kissed my ear and then lowered his head to the spot right behind my ear.

“Right here.” He whispered, even lower than before. “Is where you want that tattoo. That tattoo you think you’re never gonna get, because you’re too scared. But I don’t think you are. I think you’re the bravest person I’ve ever met.” He paused after he had said that, his lips lingering over my skin and it seemed like he was waiting for something. I sighed quietly at his words, knowing that he was referring to the story with the paparazzi, probably still not quite believing that I really didn’t care about what they thought about me. But I ignored it and as I didn’t speak Niall ignored it as well, moving on lowering his head again.

As he lowered his lips to my shoulder he – not so accidentally – brushed my sweet spot on the way, making me shiver once again. But he didn’t pause any longer than he needed to and kissed his way down to my heart, stopping right above the hem of my bra.

“I can feel your heart beat.” He said, pressing his cheek against the soft skin of my chest. The thought of him feeling how his actions had sped up my heartbeat made me blush a little again, hoping he wouldn’t notice my – now even more – increased heart beat right now. And either he didn’t, or he chose to ignore it.

“Your heart is beating for two. For you and for me, because since I met you my heart no longer belongs to me. You took it. You took it from me and I hope you’ll treasure it. Because this is the most I can give to you.” He sounded sad almost, and it hurt me so bad, thinking that this was how he felt. That he felt the need to tell me to take good care of his heart. Like I wasn’t going to make it the most valuable thing in my life.

I had to swallow down some more tears as he pressed an apologetic kiss onto my chest, probably noticing the change in mood. Maybe even from my heart rate.

He took longer this time. Niall made no effort in rushing his way anywhere and the soft and lingering kisses were randomly scattered on my chest before I started figuring out where he was taking this. To my shoulder – my left shoulder, my hurt shoulder.

His kisses stopped as he reached it, his lips only carefully brushing over the skin causing me to feel no pain at all.

“I’m so sorry.” He whispered, his voice breaking in the end. “I’m really.. so, so sorry.” The sadness in his voice threw me off once again, thinking frantically about something to say. I wanted to make him feel better, tell him that it wasn’t his fault – it really wasn’t. God! But before I could even open my mouth, Niall’s hand still resting on my hip was squeezing down lightly, causing me to forget about my worries and ease into his touch again.

I felt the corners of his lips quirking up a little against my skin and tried to relax again. I didn’t want him thinking that what happened to my shoulder was his fault but even less so I wanted him to think I wasn’t comfortable around him. But it seemed like I managed to get my message across because only a short moment later Niall’s lips were back on my skin, carefully placing light kisses on my upper arm and trailing down towards the elbow slowly.

Scooting lower and sitting up a little bit he reached for my hand, letting his thumb trail over my palm. He slowly raised my hand to his mouth and from the movement – or rather missing movement – from his chest I could tell that he was holding breath. I wanted to say something to tell him that it was okay and that my shoulder didn’t hurt as much anymore, but my lips were glued shut and somehow I didn’t manage to get the words across.

But even without my help Niall finally managed to let his lips meet my hand – not without meeting it halfway though. He tilted my hand up, carefully kissing the tip of my thumb.

“Your fingers..”

He moved my hand and kissed the index finger, and then the next, skipping my ring finger and finishing off with my pinkie. He let his lips linger for a long moment, so long that I thought maybe something was wrong but I waited patiently, trying not to ruin whatever Niall had planned with this. And “whatever” this was became rather clear to me when he pursued to single out my ringfinger, moving on with his kisses.

My heart rate sped up and I had a hard time keeping my breath calm while my mind was running wild, yet getting nowhere. I should have seen this coming.

“This finger..” Niall started out, his voice raspy and a little higher than usual. He pulled the blindfold off his eyes, starring down at me with soft, yet so incredibly intense eyes. “it’d like to put a ring on.. If you’ll let me.”

I blinked a couple of times, opening my mouth to say something but the words wouldn’t come out. Niall’s breath had sped up as well, but he just gazed down at me wordlessly, waiting for an answer. And so was I. I was waiting for the answer to pop in my head, for some sign to tell me what to say.

The proposal was the cutest thing ever and I couldn’t have asked for it to be any different. I wanted to say so many sweet things to Niall.. One of which may even have been yes. Okay, I really did want to say yes. But my brain to mouth filter had been lost somewhere in between sex in the shower and a marriage proposal in bed.

“You don’t have a ring.” I heard myself state bluntly, feeling the sudden urge to slap myself in the face. That was just about the most untactful thing to reply to a proposal. And Niall must have thought the same, when I saw an odd expression on his face, which I considered to be hurt.

“If it’s that important to you, I can get you the ring within an hour.” He replied, sounding sad.

“No, no!” I shook my head, blushing lightly. The last thing I wanted was for him to run off and get some ring right now. Niall frowned a little and rolled himself off me, until he was laying next to me, turning his head to we were looking at each other. We lay in silence for a moment, only gazing at each other and it surprised me how despite the situation the silence wasn’t all the awkward.

Niall was still looking me in the eyes, not moving away from me when he spoke again. “So is that a no to the question?”

My stomach clenched and I felt sick, not wanting to actually deny him. When he had asked me after the fight I had been so sure that he didn’t mean the proposal but now that he had asked me again things were different. Saying no now actually meant something and would actually hurt him.

“Niall, I’m.. I’m only nineteen. I don’t know what I want. You don’t know what you want. We’ve only been dating for a few months and I barely know you. You barely know me..”

He breathed out sadly, pursing his lips a little. “Didn’t this show you just how well I know you?” He asked, referring back to him mapping out my body with a blindfold on.

“I- Yes it did. And it was very sweet. It’s the sweetest thing anybody has ever done for me but..”

“.. it’s still a no.” Niall finished the sentence for me; and it was a statement. It was no question, he already knew the answer. And I felt so incredibly bad, wanting to rip out my heart right now and give to him to show him that he meant the world to me.. And that I just couldn’t marry him yet.

“I love you.” I said sadly, biting down onto my bottom lip and trying to put as much heart into the words as possible. But of course it wasn’t the same as saying yes to his question.

“I love you, too.” He replied after a while, his voice calm and quiet unlike it usually was. The hurt in his eyes and the wavering in his voice made my stomach flop and I pressed my eyes shut as suddenly tears started pressing their way through my closed eyelids. Holding my breath I tried to suppress hysterical sobs that threatened to escape my mouth, but of course Niall had to notice the unwelcome change in mood. My eyes were still shut tightly but I felt him brush his fingers over my cheeks and lashed, wiping away the tears.

“Hey, hey.” He said softly, scooting a little closer and cooing in my ear. “Stop crying, princess. Please.” He wiped away more tears and didn’t dare opening my eyes. As long as I couldn’t see him he couldn’t see me, right? Me, the quivering mess, crying over the most adorable proposal, trying to ignore her could-be-fiance.

“I’m so sorry.” Niall said, sounding a little panicky himself now. “I didn’t mean to upset you. But you said to ask you again, so I thought you might want- I mean, I guess I just.. thought you would want- I thought you wouldn’t have.. if you didn’t.” He rambled and it was strangely amusing and comforting in a way seeing that I wasn’t the only one completely lost in the situation.

“I- I..” I started out in between sobs and Niall let his hand rest on my cheek, soothingly rubbing circles into the skin as I tried to calm my breath. “I- I want to say yes.” I hiccuped, suppressing more sobs. “I really w-want to. But it doesn’t f-feel r-right.” Niall kept caressing my skin and his touched me calmed me more and more until he finally reached out and pulled me into a hug. I rather awkwardly lay half on top of him, because Niall wanted to ensure not to hurt my shoulder in any way.

“Okay.” He breathed, rubbing my back while his other hand with still cupping my cheek. “Okay.”

His words made me breath a little easier, thou technically there was no reason to. If I said no, we obviously wouldn’t get married, but him being ‘okay’ with it, seemed like a big deal to me. I smiled down at him, trying to show my appreciation and he just gazed back, a light smile lingering on his own lips.

“I don’t want to pressure you.” He ensure, pressing a light kiss onto my cheek. “I don’t want you to just say yes, because you want to please me.” He kissed my other cheek. “Maybe some day..” A smile tugged on my lips and he beamed up at me, letting his lips ghost over mine before kissing me properly and sweetly. “Until then I’ll just keep asking.”


	41. Chapter 41

Niall’s POV:

I meant what I said when I promised to keep asking. Because that’s what I did. But the answer stayed no. It stayed no, and that was okay.

After Coco’s shoulder was okay again she - “Oh my God, finally!” - was good to go to college. She enjoyed it a lot and it was fun seeing her passionate about something, asking to try out new physiotherapy stuff she had learned on me every other day. Much to my pleasure they not only learned about massages and how to do them properly, but also about nerves and where the very sensitive spots in the body were. And let’s just say we had a lot of fun with that..

Coco being occupied with classes and homework to do for school had been weird in the beginning but as soon as I went back to work as well, we kind of got a rhythm going. And it was good. We were good. We were both happy with the way things were, still not engaged, not to mention married. I had stopped asking seriously after a while and now I would only tease her about it, sometimes getting her to blush over my cheeky comments and sometimes things resulting in angry – but oh wow, hot – sex.

The other reason why I had stopped asking was something I chose simply not to admit to myself. I didn’t like thinking about it, but whenever Coco told me to “shut my mouth” because I was rambling about getting married again I felt something strike up inside of me. Rejection. I knew Coco didn’t mean it that way and she made sure to let me know after every time I asked or we talked about it, but the feeling stayed anyways. I couldn’t really help it, but ignoring it was close enough.

By the time winter came around I found myself exactly where I wanted to be. I was in a happy, stable - and public - relationship, practicing with the boys for the upcoming tour while in between work and dates still finding time to write songs, or mindlessly play the guitar for some time. Though I wasn’t going to get around to do that tonight. Tonight we went out for dinner.

“Well what other occasion could it be, if it’s not her birthday?” Coco yelled from her bathroom where she was finishing up some makeup or her hair or whatever girls did in the bathroom for hours. I sat on her bed, casually leaning against the head of the bed and tilting my head to the side, though Coco couldn’t see me. I shrugged, thinking about the reasons Liam could have asked all of us to come over to Danielle’s tonight.

“I don’t want it to be weird..” Coco continued and I rolled my eyes at her, glad that she couldn’t see me.

“It’s not her birthday. Pretty sure it’s in the summer.. or something like that.” I muttered the last part of the sentence, hoping Coco might not hear it. I didn’t really have a clue of when Danielle’s birthday was but Liam would have told me if it was a party for her – right? I furrowed my brows, remembering how odd Liam had been when telling us to come over. He had asked us almost two weeks ago, making sure all four of us boys and our girlfriends were available that night.

“If it’s her birthday and we turn up without a present.. I’m gonna be pissed!” Coco threatened, her head pooping up by the bathroom door for a moment and I looked up at her suppressing a grin.

“Fine.”

She rolled her eyes, probably able to tell that I was amused. Strolling back into the bathroom she kept blabbering.

“So what’s that dinner for then? Not her birthday.. most certainly not his. Maybe they got a puppy?”

I laughed at her words, not sure if she was actually being serious. “Doubt that, actually. Liam just said to come over and bring you.” I said, pulling up my phone and going through random stuff to avoid boredom.

“Just regular dinner?” Coco asked, sounding a little dumbfounded.

“Yeah, I guess.” I replied, not really focusing on what she was saying, or on what I was saying missing the next few words she rambled. “Do what?” I asked a little confused, sighing and putting my phone away before I shuffled across the room to stand in the doorway by her bathroom. Coco sighed, looking up at me through the mirror and waving around some hair product in her hand.

“I said I thought it was some fancy occasion and now I’m a little over dressed for just regular dinner.” The sincere frustration in her eyes amused me in a strange way and I peered down her body for a moment.

“Well I was just about to get out my tuxedo, you know.” I teased her and she swirled around waving the hair product angrily and dangerously close to my head.

“Jerk.”

Laughing I approached her and as she turned back around to face the mirror I wrapped my arms around her waist quickly, pulling her close and resting my chin on her shoulder. I was watching her in the reflexion and to my delight I could feel and see her relax into my touch.

“You look beautiful.” I whispered, turning my head to the side and pressing a quick kiss onto her cheek.

The dinner or party or whatever this exactly was felt way too mature. When Coco and I had arrived Liam and Danielle both had been standing by the door, handing us drinks and welcoming us, leaning us into the living room, like we had never been there before. I glanced at Coco and she was looking back up at me, pulling her eyebrows up and nipping on her drink.

“Guess I’m not all that undressed.” She stated and I smiled, taking a sip of my own drink.

The others arrived as well and Danielle disappeared into the kitchen, finishing up the food while Liam joined us others in the living room again, making small talk. Coco had excused herself as soon as Perrie had arrived and the two of them sat on one of the couches now, Eleanor with them, chatting and laughing.

Harry and Zayn had made it their task to prey over the alcohol and Louis, Liam and I stood together watching them with amusement as they kept mixing drinks which looked plain disgusting.

“So Liam,” Louis started after a moment, cough a little. “What’s all this about?” He asked, motioning towards all of the room.

“Ah, you know..” Liam replied with a shy smile, clenching his fingers around the glass he was holding. He looked nervous. “Kind of a long story, actually.” Louis cocked an eyebrow at him and I leaned in a little, urging him to elaborate this whole thing a little further. Liam must have sensed our curiosity, leaning away and waving his hand through the air. “I should probably go check on Dani and the food. If you will excuse me..” He left and Louis and I just looked at each other, feeling a little dazzled.

“’If you will excuse me’?” Louis asked dumfounded and I laughed at the expression on his face. “Is he okay?”

I chuckled at his words. “He seems nervous, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, kinda.” Louis replied, tilting his head to the side. “More like really excited or something.”

“Maybe he chose tonight to tell us he wants to leave the band.” I joked an Louis snorted.

“He seemed way too happy for that. Maybe they got engaged and we’re here to witness his imprisonment.”

I blushed a little at Louis words, but managed to hide the color creeping onto my cheeks by laughing with him and turning away to take another sip from my drink. I made a mental note to tell Louis last if Coco and I ever got engaged.

“Maybe she’s pregnant.” I prompted, trying to get away from the topic of marriage.

“Or maybe they’re moving in together.” I shrugged and nodded at Louis’ words. “Or it’s something for Danielle. Maybe she got like a huge job or so?”

We only shrugged more, thinking about possible reasons for the fancy occasion of this dinner, soon being joined by Harry and Zayn who were a little tipsy but threw in some very interesting ideas. After going over a ton of different scenarios we simply gave up, deciding to wait a little longer. Liam would have to tell us eventually. And as it turned out we had actually been on the right track..

Though Liam made us wait for the big news. He made us wait through more drinks and the entire dinner, which consisted of three lovely courses all of which were really delicious and Danielle kept blushing with the compliments we made on the food. We had just finished our dessert, the plates were taken away and Liam refilled all of our glasses with red wine. I glanced at Danielle and watching her lift her own glass up to her lips I ruled out a pregnancy, in my mind still thinking about various reasons for this dinner. But then Liam finally spoke up.

“Guys..” The chattering – especially coming from the girls – died down a bit and we all looked up at Liam. “So I know some of you might have been wondering why we invited all of you over tonight. There’s a special reason and we wanted to tell you guys all together.. because there’s news. Good news.” He reached out for Danielle’s right hand and they let their fingers intertwine, as everyone sitting at the table already knew what was to come next and I saw Eleanor already bouncing up and down in her seat in excitement. “We’re getting married.”

Eleanor shrieked loudly and Louis glanced at her in amusement as we all started voicing our congratulations and getting up to hug them and wish them their best. In between all the hugging and tears – Eleanor – and excited chatter I glanced back art Louis who cocked his eyebrows at me in amusement.

“Imprisonment.” He mouthed and I faked a smile for him before turning to pull Liam close.

It took a while for everyone to calm down again. The announcement had been a surprise to everyone – obviously not talking about Liam and Danielle here – and the girls were going crazy for the longest time. It made me sad seeing how overly excited Coco was for Danielle to get married. All four of them had their heads together after they pulled up Danielle’s laptop already going through weeding gowns and leaving us boys to sit together and tease Liam for a while.

As the evening went on the girls got tired of dresses and flour decors and other fancy wedding stuff and so Coco came walking over to me to sit down on the couch, snuggling into my side. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and let her press even closer to me.

“They look so happy.” I said, nodding towards Liam and Danielle who stood hand in hand, talking to Zayn and Perrie. Zayn looked a little pale and I wondered if maybe Perrie was pushing him a little, now that Danielle was engaged.

“Yeah.” Coco agreed, beaming at the two.

“You know..” I started out a little hesitantly, glancing down at Coco. “You could be this happy, too.”

Coco understood where I was going with this and chose not to look up at me, but down at her hands instead, scrapping off some of the nail polish.

“I am happy.”

“Does this mean yes?” I asked with amusement in my voice, but Coco seemed to miss it.

“Shut it.” She scold me and the harshness in her voice swept the smile right off my face. I turned my head to look away from her, across the room at some distant point. I forced myself not to feel rejected and in a way unloved, but of course it didn’t really help. It never really helped, unless I got myself distracted, but there wasn’t much to distract my thoughts at the plain white wall I was starring at now. Coco must have sensed my distress , because she reached up with her hand to touch my check and turn my head back around to face her.

“I’m sorry.” She said sincerely and quiet, her hand still resting against my cheeks and rubbing random patterns onto the skin.

“It’s okay.” I lied, turning my head to escape her touch though I didn’t miss the knowing look on her face. She knew I was upset, even if it wasn’t so much about the fact that she had said no, but much more about the way she did it.

“Maybe we need to talk about this again..” She offered, her hand twitching a little as if she wanted to reach up to touch my face again, but she kept herself from doing so.

“Not now.” I growled lowly, glancing at Harry who just walked by. I hadn’t exactly told an of the guys about my first rather spontaneous proposal, but neither had I mentioned that now I was actually planning on sealing this deal. Since apparently Liam hadn’t felt the need to do so either, I didn’t even feel bad about it anymore. And also, Coco wasn’t going to say yes anyways.. at least not anytime soon.

Later that night Coco and I both were at my flat, changing and getting ready for bed. She stripped down to her underwear and then pulled on a shirt of mine before crawling into bed already. I followed suit a moment later, crawling up next to her though keeping some space in between us. I had no idea how she felt about the conversation we’ve had at Danielle’s or how her mood was in general, because she tended to respond differently every time. Sometimes she’d be angry and wouldn’t let me touch her at all, at other times her anger translated into some sexual tension – which frankly I did not mind –, sometimes she’d just be sad, not wanting to talk about it and today – oh. Today she was cuddly.

Coco shuffled closer and turning over to push her back against my stomach while I almost automatically let my arms snake around her waist pulling her even closer. I switched off the bed light and adjusted my position one last time, before closing my eyes lazily and nuzzling my head into Coco’s neck.

We laid in silence for a while and I tried to fall asleep, but Coco kept shifting and her nervous movement had me wide awake.

“You okay, baby?” I mumbled against the her neck. She turned her head to the side and I pulled away a little and propped myself up on my elbow to look her in the eyes.

“You know I love you, right?” She asked, taking me by surprise. I frowned a little, trying to find out where this was going.

“Yeah.” I replied, though it sounded more like a question.

“And you know I would say yes if I could, right?” She sounded almost desperate and I just furrowed my brows even lower, totally confused with the situation. Coco turned more towards me and I had to scoot back a little so she could lie down, her shoulder pressed against my chest. “Right?” She kept pushing.

“I don’t..” I didn’t know what to say and so my words trailed off. This situation was weird and I didn’t know what Coco wanted to hear from me, because how on earth was I supposed to know that she wanted to say yes if she didn’t? If if she did want to say yes, why did she not just do it?

I was about to try and explain myself when silent tears started running down Coco’s cheeks, barely visible in the dark. Oh my God. I reached up and wiped away some tears, not daring to ask what was wrong again now. During the time of our relationship I had gotten the slight feeling that she tended to.. overreact at times.

“You’re not gonna leave me, are you?” She asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.

“Why the hell would I do that?”

“Because I don’t say yes.”

I smiled down at her. She was adorable when she was being ridiculous. “Do you know why I wanna marry you?” I asked, letting the hand that had been wiping away her tears rest against her cheek. Coco gulped and shook her head, but didn’t say anything. “Because I love you. Because I love you more than words can say and because I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” I paused for a moment, and Coco just gazed back up at me. “Now if I left you.. that would be kind of counterproductive.”

A light smile crept upon Coco’s lips and I kissed her gently, before lowering myself down next to her, wrapping my arms around her waist again and nuzzling her neck, pressing light kisses onto the soft skin.

“I love you.” I murmured, trying to sooth her into sleep. “I’m not leaving you.”


	42. Chapter 42

Scrollan’s POV:

It took Liam and Danielle almost half a year to get the wedding planned out and a date set, but in late summer of the next year everything was ready to go and Niall and I were driving out of London to a little cabin near a church where the party would be at afterwards. The place was beautiful and the marriage service was lovely. Only the family and close friends were invited, having the entire world go crazy for wanting wedding pictures.

Perrie and I sat through the service bravely, only tearing up later at the party when Danielle and Liam cut the cake and shared their first dance, but it didn’t matter because everyone was crying then. Liam and Danielle were picture perfect and everybody knew it, making the night even more beautiful and unforgettable.

That night was also the last night Niall had asked me to marry him. He hadn’t formed an exact question but during the service he teased me about being the next one up there and as – of course, fucking shit – I had to catch Danielle’s bouquet Niall was practically already down on one knee. Luckily none of the actions drew any attention away from the groom and bride and Niall and I were left to deal with our own little thing.

Out of nowhere Niall once again pulled up a full speech of little nothings, promising to love me forever and making my stomach turn upside down with excitement. I never said no that night, but from the way I didn’t say yes either Niall chose to take it as a ‘no’. Which was.. not what I meant for it to be.

That night I lay in bed in the cabin we were staying at, Niall’s arms wrapped around me and his breath tickling my skin as he snorted quietly next to me. I watched him sleep, too overwhelmed by my own feelings to fall asleep or even close my eyes. I thought about the things he had said to me that day and also about everything else he’s said before, giving me more than enough to rethink. And the more I thought and the more I remembered the more I regretted saying no in the first place. Because after all getting married to him now seemed like a pretty good idea. And I decided that the next time he would ask, I would say yes.

Sadly enough, Niall didn’t ask again. He had me anxious every time he took me out for dinner, looking incredibly posh in his button-up shirts or when he said he had a surprise for me and even when he started talking about me in interviews or on stage. I just really wanted this now. So badly.

I tented to dream about Niall asking just one more time. I never seemed to remember where we had been in the dream or what exactly he had said or asked, but we always came out engaged and happy. Unfortunately reality didn’t work that way. But I chose to ignore it. One could always dream, right?

And I was dreaming quite literally. I dreamed about laying in bed and Niall sliding the ring onto my finger, whispering sweet things into my ear. I reached out for his hair and felt the streaks of his short hair in between my fingers. Glancing up I saw the ring, the sparkling and beautiful engagement ring, around my finger. But the shining and the sparkling seemed to be mocking. Mocking me for what I had thrown away. Mocking about all those things that weren’t real.

But it feels so real., I thought as soft lips pressed against mine, waking me from my dream and my eyes fluttered open. Niall was hovering above me, kissing me lightly and gently before pulling back a little, his face still right above mine.

“Happy three years anniversary, princess.” He grinned, his teethes showing off and I smiled back up at him sleepily. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was barely 8am.

“You just want your gift.” I complained, trying to turn over, but he was too close holding me in place with his own body.

“I thought we said we weren’t going to do gifts.” He said innocently, smiling down at me with a shit eating smile and I couldn’t help but grin back.

“You know very well that I got you something anyways. You love getting gifts, I wasn’t going to pass up the chance of getting you something.”

“That’s true.” Niall smiled, pecking my lips quickly. “And also.. you’ve been teasing me about it for this whole past week.”

“That was fun.” I smirked, remembering how I purposely would say or do something that left Niall no other choice than to get excited. It had been fun for me and I knew Niall enjoyed it too, growing more anticipated with every day, but he was pouting now, looking at me with big eyes.

“Hmm.” He hummed and I wasn’t sure if it was agreement or not, but he leaned down again to press his lips against mine. We kissed leisurely for a while, getting more and more turned on in the process and as soon as I felt thing were getting out of hand, I pushed Niall back by his shoulders a little. He looked down at me with confusion in his eyes, but I just smiled back, pecking his lips before sitting up straight.

“First part of your gift” I started out, pushing him back down onto the mattress “is breakfast in bed. So stay. I’ll be right back.” He beamed back at me, catching my hand and pulling me in for another kiss before letting go of me and leaning back down. I grabbed a robe and wrapped it around my mostly naked body.

“That’s why I love you.”

About an hour later Niall and I were both sitting in bed, leaning against the head of the bed and just finishing off the rest of our breakfast.

“Scrollan, that was the most amazing breakfast I’ve ever had.” Niall complimented me, stealing a kiss and lifting the tray with food off the bed to scoot closer to me. I smiled at him, blushing a little at his words but let him pull me down with him until we were laying next to each other, starring in the other’s eyes.

Niall let his fingers dance across my side and up to my face to play with a strand of my hair, a curious look in bis eyes. I cocked an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to speak.

“So..” He started out after a moment, his words lingering in the air. “You said that was the.. ‘first’ part. Does that mean there’s a second part?” I pressed my lips together, trying to suppress a huge smile.

“Hm.”

“Well..?” Niall asked, not satisfied with my answer.

“Well..” I picked up his words, reaching up to take his hand off my hair and intertwine our fingers. “I was thinking.. that maybe, you know since you don’t really have one yet,.. that maybe you should get a tattoo? And my gift is that we’re gonna go to get my name tattooed on your bum.” I didn’t even try to hide the smirk tugging on lips, giving away what the sarcasm dripping from my voice should have given away already, but Niall seemed to miss it. His eyes grew wider, and I felt his hand tremble under my touch, getting a little sweaty.

“I-” Niall started, almost visibly shaking with tension.

“I’m kidding!” I exclaimed, a little thrown off by the fact that I even had to mention it. “Jesus Christ, Niall.” I laughed, nudging him in the side and giggling about how he actually believe I would want him to do that.

“Scrollan.” Niall growled lowly, but it couldn’t stop me from laughing even more and pressing a sloppy kiss onto his lips.

“You’re so funny when you’re all naive and stuff.” I was still laughing, but Niall silenced me with a kiss which I had to break away from rather soon to catch my breath, still giggling a little.

“Why did I have to pick the worst of all girlfriends?”

I ignored his comment, kissing him again quickly before laying back down and gazing at him as he starred at the sealing, seeming deep in thought. I was thinking about how to get him prepared for the actual second part of his gift, but just as my thoughts started to drift off, he spoke again, distracting me.

“Nothing gets to touch this pure skin.” He mutter, running a hand down his bare chest and I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to hear it, but I smirked at his words anyways.

“Nothing.. you say?” I asked suggestively, letting my own fingers trail down his front, tugging on the hem of his boxer briefs.

“Let me correct that.” Niall smirked. “No color gets to touch my skin.”

“Are you sure about that?” I asked with a wink and pushed myself off the bed, scrambling across the room to grab a couple of items out of my drawer (That’s right, my drawer. About half of my clothes were at Niall’s place by now, the other half at the house he shared with the boys and I practically – except from on the papers – lived with him.). From the corner of my eye I saw Niall prop himself up on his elbows and gazing at me while I pulled the drawer open and collected a few pots of paint. They were all stuffed together in a plastic bag and the suspicious rustling sound made Niall cock an eyebrow at me.

“What’s that?” He asked eying the bag as I walked back towards the bag. I ignored his question and crawled across the bed instead, placing one hand one his chest and pushing him back down into a laying position while I straddled his hips. Still smiling I looked down at his unsure and curious expression as I pulled open the lid of the first pot, trying to hide it in the bag as much as possible, but I was sure Niall had caught a glimpse at it even before I brought my finger back up, dripping with red paint now.

I pressed lips together in concentration and let my finger run down Niall’s naked chest, drawing a big red heart onto it. My finger lingered above his skin when I was done and I gazed up at him curiously, awaiting his reaction.

“Body paint, really?” He asked, sounding amused but furrowing his brows a little. “And you had to scare the shit out of me with that tattoo comment, didn’t you?” I smirked down at him and he grinned right back, rolling his eyes a little. Niall reached up and grabbed the robe still slung around my body and pulled it open in the front before pushing it down my shoulders, watching me intently while he did so. I looked back at him, entranced by the blue in his eyes and totally taken by surprise as he pulled me flush to his chest, our cheeks crashing together in the process.

I groaned and laughed at the same time, trying to push myself back up again but Niall would let me and wiggled his bare skin against mine, causing the red color to rub off against me.

“Niall.” I squealed, still laughing a little and giving up on struggling against his tight grip.

“How do you like the body paint now?” He asked playfully and with a smile in his voice. I leaned my head back, trying to look him in the eyes, but he was moving already, trying to sit up straight while I was still pressed flush against him. He let his legs dangle out of bed and instructed me to “Hold on tight.” before pushing himself up, causing me to wrap my legs around his waist quickly. We both giggled, our bodies still pressed together closely and I could feel his chest rutting against mine with the chuckling.

“Grab the paint.” I said quickly and Niall and I almost fell over as he bent down to reach for the bag, but he held me securely and he carried me across the room, not letting go of me or setting me down before we reached his bathroom.

Niall sat down the bag and wrapped both his arms around me tightly, still holding me up while my naked back was pressed against the cold tiles in the bathroom now. He leaned back a tiny bit only far enough to actually bring his face right in front of mine and pecked my lips quickly, a smile tugging on his lips.

“Let’s see how you like it when I draw on you.” He said, before letting me back down onto my feet. I stood still and watched as he stepped back, going through the bag. The heart I had drawn on his chest was smeared all over his skin now and I didn’t need to look down to know that I looked pretty much the same.

Niall got out all the different pots with colors, opening the lids and lining them up by the sink. He smiled as he turned around, stepping closer though bringing no paint with him.

“Now..” He started out, letting his hands linger on my hips. “Wouldn’t wanna ruin the sheets.” He said nodding towards the bedroom and explaining why he moved us. “And wouldn’t wanna ruin these.” He glanced down at my lace panties and I giggled a little as I let him pull my underwear down my legs. I was completely naked now and watching him as he got rid of his boxer briefs as well, before grabbing the pot with the blue color and stepping closer again.

“Turn around.” He whispered and I obliged, facing the wall and shivering a little as I waited for his touch. The paint was cold but the way Niall moved his fingers across my skin was exciting and made my skin tingle. He drew random patterns on my back, carefully dipping down to my bum, caressing the skin.

I felt his finger leave my skin and turned around to face him. He stood a back a little, trying to watch his master piece which had just disappeared when I turned around.

“My turn.” I stated, grabbing the color from him and ignoring the disappointed look on his face. I grabbed his shoulders, making him turn around as well before dipping the finger that was still red from the paint into the new color. Ignoring him back completely I went for his bum straight away, writing my name across it and loving the way Niall squirm under my touch.

“What was that?” He asked just a moment later when I let him turn around again, way sooner that he had let me.

“Just wrote my name on your bum.” I explain nonchalantly.

“You really want me to get that tattooed there, don’t you?” Niall asked with a teasing voice and he smirked down at me.

“Maybe.” I said with an innocent smile.

“Why though?” He asked, still amused by the situation.

“So people know you’re mine.”

“Nobody’s gonna see the tattoo when it’s on my bum though.” He reasoned, cocking an eyebrow at me. “Or if they do it’s too late anyways.” He added with a laugh.

“Fine.” I agreed, dipping my finger back into the paint and reaching out for his face. Niall stayed expectantly still as I ran my index finger over his forehead, writing out my name, giggling while I did. “Now people are gonna see.”

“My turn again!” Niall exclaimed, grabbing the next color and reaching for my forehead as well.

Perrie’s POV:

The boys were busy with some rehearsals for their show that night and Coco and I were out for some coffee together. Strictly speaking it probably would haven been time for dinner already, but we weren’t all that hungry and just had some snacks with our drinks, chatting away and making plans for later that night, thinking about doing some more shopping before joining the boys at their show.

“Yeah, I was wanting to get those really cute heels from that store just down the rode anyways.” I said after Coco had suggested shopping.

“Okay cool, we can just stop by there then.” She agreed and turned her head to the side to look out the window.

“You have some..” I started out reaching for her hair, but she turned her head. “You have color in your hair.” I said, trying to get a better view of the side of her head again, but Coco just turned her head in the other direction, blushing as she tugged a strand of her hair behind her ear.

“Uhm yeah.” She grinned sheepishly up at me. “That’s body paint, I suppose. Niall and I had some, uhm, fun with that this morning.” She blushed even more and I couldn’t suppress a knowing smirk, nudging her in the side and waggling my eyebrows suggestively. Coco blushed even more, rolling her eyes at me.

“Well-, it’s our anniversary, so..”

“Awh.” I cooed, suddenly understanding why Niall had been so majorly pissed about having to work today. “How long has it been? Something like three years, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Starting to get serious now, isn’t it?” I asked, grinning away but Coco didn’t seem to think that was too funny. Her eyes became glassy for a moment and she seemed to be deep in thoughts, waving her hand dismissively with a shrug.

“Well-” I tried, getting more out of her. “Has he ever said anything?”

“Kinda.. I mean he did draw a ring around my finger today with the body paint..” Her voice trailed off and she faintly let her finger trail over the skin where Niall apparently had drawn something this morning. She looked so in love, dreamy almost.

“Do you think he’s gonna propose?” I kept pushing, fancying the thought of being her bridesmaid. But Coco didn’t seem to find the thought all that amusing and her look turned serious, sad even in a way as she mumbled out a “No.” with yet another dismissive motion of her hand.

“Well, do you want him to ask?” I asked though I believed I knew the answer to that already anyways. Coco looked up nervously at my words, opening her mouth though no words came out and her reaction made me laugh. Though me trying to push her to answer me, was interrupted by my cell phone, laying on the table in between us and ringing obnoxiously. Still starring at Coco I fetched it and answered the call without bothering to look at the ID.

“Yeah?” I asked a little annoyed about the fact that somebody had just interrupted my little question time with Coco.

“Perrie?” Zayn asked through the phone and despite my annoyance my face lit up and I tried to suppress the idiotic grin threatening to spread across my lips.

“Oh hey Zayn!” I chattered happily. “What’s up?”

“Where are you?” He sounded strange and I furrowed my brows, turning my head instinctively looking for him.

“I’m having coffee.. with Coco. Why?”

His response came immediately. “You need to come now.”

“Come where?” I asked sceptically, expecting the worst.

“The venue. For the show tonight.”

“Oh!” I laughed in relief. “We haven’t actually decided yet when we were gonna come. We wanted to go shopping first, so maybe we’ll just meet you there like halfway through.” Zayn didn’t reply and instead I just heard muffled sounds in the background, suspecting that he had covered the speaker with his hand, talking to somebody else. I looked at Coco and she glanced at me with concern in her eyes, though before I could say something to her, Zayn spoke again.

“No, you need to be here. For the show.”

“Zayn, what the hell is going on?” I asked, almost annoyed now. I knew he liked for me to be there at his shows, but he had never before told me that I absolutely needed to be there.

There was more shuffling sounds in the background, though I could make out voices speaking now and I recognized Niall’s voice rambling on rather unfriendly. “I swear to God, if she’s not here for the show..!” A load of cuss words followed and I removed the speaker from my ear a little bit, glancing at Coco in confusion. She mirrored my look, cocking an eyebrow at me.

“What is it?” She whispered, nudging her head towards the phone in my hand.

“I don’t know.” I whispered back, shrugging lightly, but turning my attention back to the phone when Zayn spoke again.

“Just be there!” He ordered harshly, very unlike himself. “Okay?”

“Okay, okay. Jesus Christ.” I snapped back, trying to show him how ridiculously he was acting.

“Okay.” He replied, picking up my words. “Okay.” His voice was softer now, and lower as if to say sorry. “I love you.”

“I love you too, babe.” I replied with a smile. This was much more like him. “We’ll be there in a little bit.”

“Great.” I could almost hear him smile. “Bye.”

I hung up on him, still frowning a little as I still thought about our rather odd conversation.

“Is something wrong?” Coco asked as soon as I had set down the phone, letting my finger trace random patterns on the touch screen.

“They want us at the venue right now. Immediately.” I replied with a shrug, making the words sound over dramatic.

“Why?” Coco replied in confusion, shifting in her seat a little.

“I don’t know.” I admitted, shrugging yet again before adding “But your boyfriend sounded kind of upset, actually.” I meant for it more to be informative than to upset Coco as well, but the deep frown that crept upon her face let me know that I failed horribly at that. She didn’t reply and just starred down at her almost empty coffee cup, looking deep in thought and constantly frowning.

Barely half an hour later we were at the venue of the boys’ show, making our way down the hallway towards their greenroom where we were greeted by some security men before being ushered into the room. My eyes fell on Zayn immediately who was sitting on one of the couches with Liam and Louis, chatting casually but looking up as soon as we entered the room. I walked over to him and the other two boys, greeting them cheerily and pressing a quick kiss on Zayn’s lips.

I got settled in in Zayn’s arms, while the boys continued talking and my eyes fell on Niall who had stopped pacing through the room when we entered and was now standing with Coco, talking quietly and looking awfully nervous. For a short moment I wondered about where Harry was at but scratched that thought as I kept watching Niall, who was looking bashful as ever.

“What is it?” I asked, tugging on Zayn’s sleeve and nodding towards Niall. All three boys turned to look at me with big eyes and I saw Louis’ gaze traveling towards Niall for a moment before glancing back at Zayn with a strange look in his eyes.

“Well?” I prompted as none of them answered my question.

“It’s nothing, honey.” Zayn ensured, grabbing my hand and rubbing it soothingly. “I just wanted you to be here, okay?” I knew he was lying and I was pretty sure he knew I knew as well, but I decided to let it go and ask Coco about it later instead. Her and Niall were still standing together though he looked a lot better now. His hand was still holding on tightly onto the clothing wrack right next to him, but his face had turned a rather healthy color again and his hands had stopped trembling. And with one last glance at the two of them I shoved the thought off my mind completely, trying to enjoy the time till the show’s start.

I stayed with Zayn and Coco stayed with Niall up until that moment when yet another important looking guy entered the room, calling the boys over to get their makeup done and their proper clothes on. As they left the room Niall pressed a quick kiss on Coco’s forehead before following the others outside, leaving his girlfriend to stand in the middle of the room, looking rather lonely and maybe even tense.

“You okay?” I asked and Coco looked up at me, moving across the room and sitting down with me on the couch, humming in agreement.

“What did Niall say?”

“Nothing really.” Coco replied with a shrug, avoiding my gaze. The way she said it made me think that there was more though. It sounded like they had fought, though from what I had seen watching them this past hour, it didn’t look like they were. And just as I thought about asking her about it, she spoke again herself.

“He said he had a gift for me.. For our anniversary.”

“Oh.” I said a little surprised. This was not what I had expected. “But- Didn’t you say you weren’t doing presents for your anniversary?”

“Yeah, but well.. I guess we both got each other something anyways.” Coco shrugged again and it took me a moment to remember the body paint she had told me about earlier that day.

“So what did he get you?” I asked then curiously leaning forward with a big smile on my face, but Coco was frowning.

“He said I’d have to wait till the end of the show.”

I didn’t know whether it was me or Coco who was more excited for the gift Niall had gotten her. I hated him so much for teasing us – or actually just Coco, but whatever – with the promise of getting her a gift later that night. And so we stood together backstage, watching the boys perform discussing what Niall might have gotten her. Or maybe it was me talking and Coco waving off every idea of mine, but I didn’t care.

Coco seemed to be unusually cheery, maybe only trying to distract me from talking any more about the present, but I didn’t mind as she grabbed my hands, twirling me around and encouraging me to dance with her. Laughing and giggling we swayed our hips, singing along to the songs and having our own little party backstage, while being watched by the one or other security or management person. But just like always, we didn’t really care.

The boys came piling in every now and then to get changed, laughing and goofing around on their performing high and having to yell at us to drown out the crowds’ screams. And the screams were loud as ever in their last little break as the boys came jumping in again, Zayn stopping right by me and pressing a quick kiss onto my lips whilst Niall darted right past us, getting changed in the background.

“Am I doing good?” Zayn asked with a cheeky smile and I grinned up at him, rolling my eyes a little.

“Of course you are, babe.” I ensured him before smacking his bum and telling him to “Go get changed, already!”. As I looked up at Coco she looked sad almost, grinning sheepishly as she realized that she had been starring. I smiled back, trying to give her some comfort, though it turned out awkwardly and Coco just turned away a little, gazing back out to the now empty stage.

I turned my head and my gaze fell on Niall who was swiftly pulling up his dress pants for their rather posh looking last look for the night. He seemed to be in a hurry though, ripping the button up shirt over his head and tucking it in sloppily.

“What’s with him?” I asked Zayn who was standing next to me, not even bothering to hurry one bit and slowly peeling of his jeans he had worn for the previous part of the show.

“Nothing.” He ensured me with a peck on my lips, though I couldn’t help but doubt his words. Niall was fully dressed now, running his one hand through his hair nervously, while petting his chest with the other. He nodded once to himself, before shuffling across the room to Coco who was still facing the stage.

“Hey.” He started out softly, turning her around a bit and gazing down at her. I felt weird watching the two shamelessly, but then again they were having a moment right there so they didn’t notice me anyways. Niall leaned in closer to her, his hands resting on her hips. “I love you.. don’t- don’t forget that.”

“Okay, I won’t I-” Coco started out, but Niall was gone already, jogging onto the stage and the crowd cheered up loudly as he waved at them.

“What was that?” I asked, turning towards Coco, though the question wasn’t directed at her in particular, just at anyone who would explain the situation to me. Coco looked just as confused, turning towards me and the boys with a shrug.

“Where the hell is he going?” Louis exclaimed angrily, still not wearing any pants and glancing at the other band members who were just as little dressed as he was.

“Yeah, what the fuck, man.” Harry added, pulling a shirt over his shoulder and already halfway towards the stage, before (pantless) Liam jumped right in front of him.

“It’s alright.” He ensured, stopping the youngest boy effectively and nodding slowly at everybody else. The general confusion in the room was amusing almost in a way as no body – expect Liam maybe – seemed to understand what was going on. I was looking at Zayn, trying to get his opinion on this whole thing, but Zayn was busy smirking like a Cheshire cat and gazing at Niall who was out on the stage now. I followed his gaze, looking at the blond boy as he waved at the growed, still trying to calm them down.

“Hey guys.” He tried carefully in an attempt to quiet them down, though the screams only grew louder. “I hope you guys don’t mind..” He started again, probably trying to ignore the yells coming from the crowd. “I hope you guys don’t mind if I’m taking over the stage for a moment.” Niall didn’t look over to where I and the others were standing though judging by the other boys’ looks on their faces they did mind him up there, taking over the stage.

“What the hell is he doing?” Harry whispered loudly though nobody answered him and Niall continued.

“Let me tell you guys about something that happened to me three years ago today.” The crowd’s screams died down a bit and also the boys had shut up in the background. I felt Coco stiffen next to me. Niall still didn’t bother granting us standing backstage a look. “Three years ago today.. I finally managed to man up and tell my, at that time, good friend and major crush how I really felt about her.. Fortunately she felt the same way and has been my girlfriend ever since.”

The crowd was going nuts, screaming louder than before and making it impossible to hear what Niall was saying after that, though it sounded an awful lot like ”I love you, babe. Would you mind joining me on stage?”. And though I wasn’t sure of what I’d heard my assumptions were confirmed when Niall turned towards us, holding his hand out for Coco nervously. Everyone backstage was starring at her now and I could see her growing more and more tense with the attention and the screams coming from the crowd.

“Go!” Liam yelled, nudging her forwards onto the stage. I looked after her, not quite sure if my brain was able to comprehend this whole situation and from the rather shocked expression on Coco’s face I could tell that she felt the same. Though she somehow managed to pull it together, stumbling onto the stage and reaching out for Niall’s hand as an adorable blush crept upon her incredibly pale face.

Niall took her hand and let their fingers intertwine, though he held her at about arm length away from him, still gazing at her. He raised his microphone to his lips again, though this time he was speaking to Coco, not the crowd.

“I told you a hundred times already how much I love you and how much I want this, but I’ll tell you a million times more if that’s what you need me to do. I’ll tell you every day for the rest of our lives.. if you let me..”

My eyes grew wider and I grabbed Zayn’s hand, squeezing it tightly. “Is he going to-? Is he going to-?” I kept repeating, almost breaking out in hives in excitement. Zayn just smirked down at me and Louis stepped forwards, grinning at Niall.

“That little bastard.” He said with a knowing a smile. A knowing smile all of us were sporting right now. Even Coco.

“Now.. we’ve done this before.” Niall continued. “And you said yourself I’ve raised the bar pretty high for myself. But I hope 20.000 people” He motioned towards the crowd “will do just fine..”

I had no idea what exactly he was talking about and the boys looked confused as well but loud screams from the crowed distracted us. They had been unusually quiet while Niall had been talking, listening to every word he had said, but now that he was starting to fiddle with his chest pocket the screams were overwhelming.

Niall turned towards the audience, the microphone still close to his lips. “I bet she wouldn’t want me to tell you,” He whispered into the mic, causing the crowd to quiet down a bit again “but she tends to say no to this question, so.. maybe encourage her?”

Coco was blushing and the crowd was screaming but it all disappeared in a haze as Niall got down on one knee, holding up the box with the ring and popping the question. The microphone was down on the floor and I couldn’t hear him speak, though even if he had had the microphone up at his lips, the crowd’s screams were deafening. All I saw was Coco nodding and Niall sliding the ring onto her trembling finger before pulling her up in a kiss, making the crowd scream even louder – if that was even possible any more.

I felt like being and trance and was only pulled out of it when Liam pushed past me and Zayn making his way onto the stage and hugging Niall and Coco who were still standing together. It only took me a second to follow him, wrapping my arms around Coco’s neck as soon as I got within arms length of her. More arms were wrapped around us and though I couldn’t see through – what I would later deny were most definitely not – tears I figured that the other boys were all on stage now, wrapping us up in a huge group hug.


	43. Epilogue

Scrollan’s POV:

„Th-this is s-s-so f-fucking c-cold-d.“

“You’re not supposed to stand outside, love.”

“B-but it’s s-so hot-t in the-re.”

“It’s not.” I said with a laugh. “Now climb in, before your toes freeze off.” Niall groaned at my words and carefully scooted closer, slowly dipping his toes into the hot water of the hot tub. It took him forever but I waited patiently until he was sitting next to be, the hot and bubbling water covering him up to his chest.

“Better?” I asked scooting closer and pressing my feet against his still icy toes.

“Tell me again what you had me drugged up with when I decided to let you pick the place for our honeymoon?” He asked playfully angry and I grinned up at him as he slung his arm around my shoulders.

“Sex.” I replied with a smirk and Niall nodded knowingly.

“Oh yeah, I remember that.”

“Good, stop being all grumpy then.” I scold him, pressing a kiss onto his cheek.

“Your wish is my command, Mrs. Horan.” He said with a face-splitting smile and my heart started racing once again. I still wasn’t quite used to my new name though it surely started to grow on me. Mrs. Horan. Mr. Horan. That definitely sounded good.

Niall pulled me even closer and tilting my head to the side to kiss my lips, smiling into the kiss as he slowly pulled away.

“Care to explain to me again why of all place you had to pick Minnesota, then?” He asked, nudging his cold nose against mine and I giggled.

“I just thought it had something to it.” I shrugged, not really sure myself why I picked the absolute dead end of the United States for our lovely time together.

“It had something to it?” Niall asked in disbelief as he picked up my words, but pressing light kisses along my jaw as he spoke.

“How could you possibly think it doesn’t?” I asked seriously confused and pulling his head up a little to turn it to the side and look at the view we had from the hot tub right behind the little cottage we were staying in. It was absolutely amazing looking over the wide open land which seemed to be untouched by human hand. The cottage wasn’t exactly on a mountain, more like a small hill, but we had a great view of the snowy landscape in front of us.

Niall sighed. “Okay, fine. It’s breathtaking. But it’s also minus one billion degrees.” I gave him a disapproving look for his exaggeration but he bend down quickly to kiss it away. “It’s lovely.” He ensured me. “The snow and the cold only means I get to peel you out of even more clothes.” He smirked and I smiled back, remembering just how many times he had done that already.

“Next time we come to the hot tub I’ll be sure to wear my coat.” I promised, winking at him.

“Or..” He started, letting his fingers tug on the straps of my bikini “You could just wear nothing instead.”

“I could.” I agreed with a smirk, pushing myself up to reposition my body above his, straddling his hips and shuddering a little as the top half of my body was lifted out of the hot water into the cool night air. I pressed my body closer to his, our chests rubbing together as we started kissing lazily, Niall’s hands resting on my hips lightly.

I slowly ground down on him and smiled into the kiss, as I appreciated the fact that we were the only people at the cottage. It wasn’t all that small really, but of course Niall wanted to go all out on our honeymoon so he literally set me no limited on where I wanted to go, what I wanted to do or how much it would cost for me to fulfill my wildest dreams. So we ended up in this cozy and pleasantly lonely cottage, a servant coming up only twice a day to check on us and bring grocerys or cook or do whatever we needed him to.

I remembered one time that Niall and I were chasing each other through the cottage, laughing wildly and both only semi-dressed when the friendly elderly man came up with some food for the day. I still couldn’t make out if the situation was more embarrassing for him or for us but ever since that day we made sure to lock the door so nobody would walk in again on us.. - anyways.

I giggled a little as the memory started slipping my mind and Niall pulled back from the kiss, taking a deep breath.

“What are you giggling about?” But Is hook my head, showing him that it didn’t matter and Niall let go of it, pulling me closer to him again to let my forehead rest against his. I tried looking him in the eyes but we were too close and twisting my eyes weirdly hurt and was exhausting so I just closed them instead, cherishing the closeness and the comfortableness of the moment.

We sat like this for a while and I could feel his breath slow down and become more relaxed. I still had my eyes closed but opened them when Niall spoke again.

“Did it seriously just start to snow?”

I giggled and pulled back to gaze up in the sky and see soft snowflakes falling down, swirling and dancing in the wind. There were only few but I felt them settle on my skin and dipped down as low into the hot water as I could without removing my body from on top of Niall’s to escape the cold feeling the snowflakes were leaving on my skin.

“Admit it.” I said as I brushed some snowflakes out of his hair. “You love this place.”

Niall sighed in response. “I love that it makes you happy.” He kissed my nose gently. “And I love you.”

“How convenient.” I grinned. “I love you, too.” Niall grinned back and pressed his lips against mine, kissing me lovingly for a moment before he pulled back again.

“Are you happy?” He asked, his face only inches away from mine and his hands still resting on my hips holding me tight.

“Very happy.” I replied. “I have an amazing husband who makes me more and more happy with every day.”

“Does he now?” Niall asked with amusement in his voice, cocking one eyebrow at me.

“He does.”

“Did he give you the best wedding imaginable?”

“Yes.” I grinned back.

“Did he let you choose the place of your honeymoon, even though you chose something comparable to the north pole?”

“He did.”

“Would he turn the world upside down just to see you happy?” I hesitated for a moment and just smiled at the cheesiness of his words. Though somehow it also was incredibly cute and romantic and I kind of wished he would say stuff like that more often.

“He better.”

Niall grinned back at me.

“Is he going to be the best dad to your kids ever?” My heart leaped at that question. Niall and I hadn’t really talked about having kids or at all about our future for that matter.

“Hopefully.” I responded bravely, melting under the loving look in Niall’s eyes. He paused for a moment before he spoke again.

“Does he know how to make you feel real good?” He asked seductively, tugging on the strap of my bikini again.

“Yes.” I breathed and giggled as Niall kept tugging and I felt the knot loosen on my back.

“You should let him demonstrate.” Niall whispered as he pulled me closer again and bit down on my bottom lip, lowering both of us deeper in the water.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final thoughts would be lovely. :)
> 
> Also, find me on tumblr: stolemyheartfanfiction1 & hannahazza

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you're thinking and if I should update.. xx


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